Cearfjerg'  professional 

EDITED  BY  NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 


TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

IN    ELEMENTARY   AND    SECONDARY 

SCHOOLS 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

IN 

ELEMENTARY  AND   SECONDARY 
SCHOOLS 


BY 
HENRY  JOHNSON 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY   IN  TEACHERS   COLLEGE 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1921 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1915, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  July,  1915. 


Nottoool) 

J.  8.  CuRhlng  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


MY  MOTHER 


EDITOR'S    INTRODUCTION 

IN  beginning  his  illuminating  treatment  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  Lord  Bryce  wrote:  "In  history  there 
is  nothing  isolated,  and  just  as  to  explain  a  modern  act 
of  Parliament,  or  a  modern  conveyance  of  lands,  we 
must  go  back  to  the  feudal  customs  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  so  among  the  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages 
there  is  scarcely  one  which  can  be  understood  until  it 
is  traced  up  either  to  classical  or  to  primitive  Teutonic 
antiquity." 

This  is  the  first  principle  for  the  teacher  of  history 
to  enforce,  as  it  is  the  first  lesson  for  the  student  of 
history  to  learn.  History  offers  a  third  dimension  to 
the  superficial  area  of  knowledge  that  each  individual 
acquires  through  his  own  experience.  When  one  boasts 
that  he  is  not  bound  by  any  trammels  of  the  past,  he 
proclaims  his  own  folly,  and  would,  if  he  could,  reduce 
himself  to  the  intellectual  level  of  the  lower  animals. 
He  can  only  mean  by  such  a  phrase  that  he  proposes 
to  set  out  to  discover  and  to  explain  the  world  of  nature 
and  of  man  as  if  nothing  had  been  done  before,  and 
as  if  he  were  certainly  competent  for  his  mighty  and 


Vlll  EDITOR  S   INTRODUCTION 

self-imposed  task.  The  wise  man,  on  the  contrary,  will 
search  the  records  of  the  past  for  their  lessons,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  spared  from  trying  to  do  again  what 
has  been  once  proved  useless,  wasteful,  or  wrong.  He 
will  watch  the  rise  and  fall  of  peoples ;  the  struggle  of 
human  ambition,  greed  and  thirst  for  power ;  the  loves 
and  hates  of  men  and  women  as  these  have  affected 
the  march  of  events;  the  migration  of  peoples;  the  birth, 
development,  and  application  of  ideas ;  the  records  of 
human  achievement  in  letters,  in  the  arts,  and  in  sci- 
ence ;  the  speculations  and  the  beliefs  of  men  as  to  what 
lies  beyond  the  horizon  of  sense,  with  a  view  to  seeking 
a  firm  foundation  for  the  fabric  of  his  own  knowledge 
and  of  his  own  belief. 

One  of  the  wisest  and  most  successful  teachers  of 
history  that  ever  lived  in  America,  Professor  Francis 
Lieber  of  Columbia  College,  used  a  method  peculiarly 
his  own,  and  achieved  exceptional  results  by  so  doing. 
In  his  college  classes  he  assigned  as  the  task  for 
each  exercise  a  definite  number  of  pages  in  a  popular 
manual  of  the  history  of  Europe  that  was  translated 
from  the  German.  This  manual  was  nothing  more  than 
a  compact  and  desiccated  collection  of  facts,  including 
dates,  names,  and  important  events.  Each  pupil  was 
required  to  master  the  contents  of  the  assigned  number 
of  pages.  When  the  class  met,  the  teacher  required  a 
selected  pupil,  in  the  presence  of  his  classmates,  to 


EDITOR  S    INTRODUCTION  IX 

write  upon  the  blackboard  a  summary  of  the  events 
that  happened  in  Great  Britain,  for  example,  during 
the  period  under  examination.  By  a  system  of  cross- 
questioning  the  aid  of  the  entire  class  was  had  in  secur- 
ing the  correctness  of  this  summary.  Then  another 
pupil  would  be  summoned  to  do  the  same  thing  for 
France,  another  for  Germany,  another  for  Italy,  and 
so  on  until  all  the  material  included  in  the  assigned 
portion  of  the  textbook  had  been  covered.  Then  the 
teacher,  turning  with  a  triumphant  look  to  his  class, 
was  in  the  habit  of  saying :  "  Now  you  know  what  was 
happening  in  each  of  the  great  countries  of  Europe  at 
a  specified  time.  But  why  were  those  things  happen- 
ing ?  You  do  not  know.  You  will  not  find  out  from 
your  textbook,  but  I  will  tell  you."  Then  the  eloquent 
and  learned  scholar  poured  forth  a  wealth  of  illuminat- 
ing philosophical  explanation  that  made  the  carefully 
memorized  facts  forever  real  in  the  minds  of  his  fortu- 
nate pupils.  There  is  no  better  way  to  study  or  to 
teach  history  than  that.  The  fundamental  data,  the 
dates,  the  names,  the  bare  events,  must  be  learned  by 
the  pupil,  and  having  been  learned  they  must  be  inter- 
preted. J  Interpretation  is  the  task  of  the  teacher. 
"^ i^ ••_•• — ^•^•••^^li 
For  more  than  a  generation  past  there  has  been  a 

strong  and  steadily  growing  tendency  to  interpret  the 
facts  of  history  as  the  successive  sequences  in  a  chain 
of  economic  causation.  It  has  been  stoutly  held  and 


X  EDITOR  S   INTRODUCTION 

taught  that  the  actions  of  men  and  of  nations  are  to 
be  explained  as  the  effects  of  purely  economic  causes. 
To  accept  this,  however,  as  occupying  anything  more 
than  a  subordinate  and  a  secondary  place  in  the  study 
of  history,  is  to  close  one's  eyes  to  the  most  obvious 
facts  of  human  experience.  No  small  part  of  the  life 
of  individuals  and  of  nations  is  devoted  to  courses  of 
action  and  to  policies  which  are  in  direct  conflict  with 
men's  obvious  economic  interests,  but  which  are  pursued 
because  of  belief  in  some  principle,  because  of  adhe- 
rence to  some  ideal,  because  of  faith  in  something 
unseen  and  eternal.  The  scholarly  and  the  true  inter- 
pretation of  history  is  to  view  it  as  the  record  of  the 
social,  the  moral,  and  the  intellectual  education  of  man, 
with  economic  forces  and  laws  playing  a  constant  but 
a  secondary  part. 

It  has  become  fashionable  to  decry  chronology  and 
to  treat  as  unimportant  a  knowledge  of  the  dates  at 
which  large  events  took  place.  But  this  tendency  is 
one  to  be  vigorously  resisted.  Chronology  lies  at  the 
basis  of  history  and  furnishes  it  with  a  framework. 
Not  to  know  the  significance  of  dates  such  as  490  B.C., 
£2  A.D.,  1066,  1453.  1492,  1649,  1789,  1815,  and  1914, 
is  to  miss  the  clue  to  the  power  to  group  events  in 
their  natural  order  and  in  their  causal  sequence. 

He  will  be  a  fortunate  student,  too,  who  is  guided  by 
a  study  of  history  through  the  gates  that  lead  to  litera- 


EDITOR  S   INTRODUCTION  XI 

ture.  Herodotus  and  Thucydides,  Livy  and  Tacitus, 
Gibbon  and  Macaulay,  von  Ranke  and  Mommsen, 
Laurent  and  Martin,  are  not  only  historians  but  men 
of  letters.  They  reveal  to  the  student  of  history  the 
play  upon  the  records  of  the  past  of  high  intellectual 
power,  working  with  the  instruments  of  the  fine  art  of 
expression.  The  teacher  of  history  who  awakens  in 
his  pupils  a  love  of  the  literature  of  history  and  a  love 
of  the  literature  that  constitutes  so  large  a  part  of  the 
subject-matter  of  history,  will  not  have  taught  in  vain. 


NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
May  18,  1915 


PREFACE 

THE  literature  called  forth  by  school  instruction  in 
history  during  the  last  three  hundred  years  is  in  some 
respects  a  melancholy  literature.  Much  of  it  can,  with- 
out great  effort,  be  read  as  a  sort  of  continuing  diagno- 
sis of  unsound -conditions.  Something  was  apparently 
wrong  in  the  seventeenth  century,  when  history  first 
began  to  be  taught  seriously  as  an  independent  school 
subject,  and  something  has  apparently  been  wrong  ever 
since.  This  might  be  indicative  merely  of  a  progressive 
spirit  forever  discovering  that  the  good  of  yesterday  is 
no  longer  good  to-day.  But  the  facts  admit  of  no  such 
flattering  interpretation.  The  ills  on  view  in  each  gen- 
eration have  been  in  large  part  ills  on  view  in  each  pre- 
ceding generation.  So,  too,  much  of  the  advanced 
thought  on  how  to  improve  conditions  has  been  merely 
the  unconscious  revival  of  old  thought.  Before  history 
had  really  begun  to  disturb  the  peace  of  schoolmasters, 
Comenius,  in  his  Great  Didactic,  completed  in  1632, 
made  provision  for  the  subject  in  every  year  of  the 
school  course  and  emphasized  aspects  of  history  which 
we,  with  the  zest  of  pioneers,  are  emphasizing  now. 


XIV  PREFACE 

Before  history  had  become  more  than  a  respectable 
exception  in  actual  school  programs,  Christian  Weise, 
in  1676,  found  the  spell  of  the  ancients  over-potent  and 
argued,  much  as  we  argue  now,  in  favor  of  the  modern 
period.  By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  school 
instruction  in  history  had  been  charged  with  most  of  the 
faults  which  we  attribute  to  it  now,  and  reformers  had 
already  anticipated  most  of  the  correctives  which  we  are 
now  striving  to  apply. 

Similar  impressions  of  continuing  ills  and  of  recurring 
advanced  thought  on  how  to  meet  them  are  left  by 
other  chapters  in  the  history  of  human  endeavor.  But 
the  conditions  presented  by  the  history  of  history  teach- 
ing suggest  a  somewhat  curious  inconsistency.  Teachers 
of  history  have  labored  diligently  to  improve  the  world 
in  general  through  history  in  general.  It  does  not 
appear  from  the  record  that  they  have  labored  diligently 
to  improve  their  own  calling  through  the  special  history 
of  that  calling.  The  joy  of  independent  discovery  is 
not  a  matter  to  be  treated  lightly.  It  is,  moreover, 
better  on  principle  to  be  an  originator  than  to  be  an 
imitator.  But  teachers  of  history  are  committed  by 
their  own  logic  to  a  study  of  the  experiences  of  other 
teachers.  Believing,  as  they  do  believe,  that  the  past 
of  humanity  in  general  is  of  value  to  humanity  in  gen- 
eral, they  are  scarcely  in  a  position  to  deny  that  the 
past  of  history  teaching  is  of  value  to  teachers  of  his- 


I 


PREFACE  XV 

tory.  Surely,  to  them,  beyond  teachers  of  any  other 
subject,  it  should  be  apparent  that  there  is  an  element 
of  futility  in  sailing  without  charts  seas  that  have  already 
been  charted  and  in  making  discoveries  that  have 
already  been  discovered.  There  are,  it  may  be  added, 
wide  opportunities  for  independent  exploration  the 
nature  of  which  can  be  understood  only  by  those  who 
embark  with  some  knowledge  of  what  has  already  been 
accomplished. 

It  is  in  this  faith  that  the  author  has  attempted  in  the 
following  pages  a  broader  survey  of  past  and  present 
conditions  than  has  hitherto  been  included  in  a  book  on 
the  teaching  of  history.  The  treatment  is  necessarily 
inadequate,  but  not,  it  is  hoped,  as  superficial  as  the 
meager  citation  of  authorities  might  suggest.  Most  of 
the  generalizations  are  based  upon  materials  of  which 
the  footnotes  convey  no  hint,  and  of  which  they  could 
not,  without  expansion  unsuitable  for  a  work  of  this 
character,  convey  any  hint.  The  most  that  can  be 
claimed  for  this  part  of  the  work  is,  however,  that  it 
may  furnish  some  indication  of  what,  in  the  course  of 
three  centuries,  has  been  thought  and  done  in  the 
teaching  of  history. 

The  greater  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  a  discus- 
sion of  underlying  principles  and  their  application  to 
present  problems  of  history  teaching  in  the  United 
States.  The  aihi  has  been  to  present  as  concretely  as 


XVI  PREFACE 

possible  the  fundamental  conditions  of  making  history 
of  any  kind  effective  in  the  schoolroom.  There  has 
been  no  concealment  of  a  personal  conviction  that  the 
study  of  history  in  school  may  be,  and  should  be,  a  seri- 
ous study  of  history.  But  this  involves  merely  a  further 
application  of  principles  of  presentation  which  are,  it  is 
believed,  as  valid  for  those  who  refuse  to  carry  them 
beyond  the  story  or  information  stage  of  history  teach- 
ing as  for  those  who  believe  that  school  history  should 
include  illustrations  of  how  historical  truth  is  established. 

The  author's  own  faith  in  the  ability  of  boys  and  girls 
to  cope  with  history  is  frankly  greater  than  that  com- 
monly professed  in  educational  discussion.  But  it  has 
not  been  established  "without  works."  Beginning, 
twenty-five  years  ago,  with  all  the  psychological  and 
pedagogical  tenderness  that  the  latest  defender  of  the 
rights  of  childhood  could  desire,  the  author  has  been 
led  step  by  step,  through  direct  experience  in  the  class- 
room, to  a  conviction  that  history  of  almost  any  kind 
can  be  taught  at  almost  any  stage  of  instruction  on  the 
simple  condition  that  it  is  taught  in  a  sensible  way. 
The  evidence  is  in  part  the  exercises  suggested  in  this 
book,  exercises  which,  however  they  may  be  judged  on 
other  grounds,  have  in  every  case  been  personally  tested 
under  average  school  conditions. 

No  headings  nor  marginal  comments  have  been  in- 
cluded in  the  body  of  the  book,  but  a  substitute  for  such 


PREFACE  XV11 

aids  to  analysis  of  the  text  is  furnished  by  the  table  of 
contents.  A  bibliography  of  history  teaching,  a  list  of 
guides  to  historical  literature,  a  bibliography  of  illustra- 
tive material,  suggestions  for  a  collection  of  illustrative 
material,  annotated  references  for  further  reading,  and 
questions  on  the  text  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the 
volume. 

The  author  has  drawn  freely  upon  portions  of  his 
earlier  pamphlet,1  but  most  of  the  present  treatment  is 
new.  He  is  indebted  to  his  wife  for  constant  and 

invaluable  assistance. 

HENRY  JOHNSON. 

NEW  YokK, 

June  14,  1915. 

1  The  Problem  of  Adapting  History  to  Children  in  the  Elementary 
School.  Teachers  College  Record,  November,  1908.  Out  of  print. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 
PREFACE 


y  CHAPTER  I 

I/WHAT  HISTORY  is 

THE  PAST  AND  ITS  TRACES  .       .       .        . 

Traditions  and  remains          .  . .   -  • 

Primary  and  derived  sources  ..... 

Inadequacy  of  sources 

THE  HISTORICAL  METHOD     .        .        .       .        .       , 

External  criticism 

Internal  criticism 

Results  of  criticism         .        .        .        .        .        . 

Kinds  of  synthesis          .        .        .        .'»..., 
EARLY  CONCEPTIONS  OF  HISTORY      .   .       .       .    ,   .. 

Herodotus      .        .      •  .        .        >        i        •        . 

Thucydides    .        .....        . 

BUCKLE'S  ESTIMATE  OF  HISTORIANS      .... 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  CONCEPTION  OF  HISTORY     . 

The  search  for  laws  of  human  action 

Generalization  and  the  question  of  what  is  important 

The  idea  of  development        .        .        . 
CURRENT  VIEWS  OF  HISTORY 


CHAPTER  H 
THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING  HISTORY 

GENERAL  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  PROBLEM 

Difficulties  often  pointed  out          .... 


PAGE 

vii 
iriii 


I 

2 
3 
4 
6 

7 

10 
16 
17 
19 
19 

21 
23 
24 
25 
25 
26 
27 


28 
29 


XX  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Difficulties  should  not  be  exaggerated  ....  30 

Tendency  to  apply  preconceived  ideas  ....  30 

GENERAL  THEORIES 3 1 

The  doctrine  of  natural  tastes  and  interests  .  .  .31 

The  culture-epoch  theory 32 

From  the  near  to  the  remote 38 

APPROACH  FROM  THE  SIDE  OF  HISTORY  ....  40 

Conditions  presented  by  the  externals  of  life  .  .  40 
Conditions  presented  by  past  mental  states  .  .  .42 

Particular  facts  and  general  facts  ....  44 

Grading,  a  problem  in  presentation  ....  50 

DIFFICULTIES  COMMON  TO  ALL  CONCEPTIONS  OF  GRADING  .  51 

Localization  essential 51 

The  time  sense 52 

The  place  sense  . 53 

SUMMARY  OF  POSSIBILITIES 53 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES 

THE  FORMULATION  OF  AIMS  OF  INSTRUCTION  .  .  .55 

Two  modes  of  procedure  ,  • 55 

History  shaped  by  predetermined  good  .  .  .  -57 

AIMS  COMMONLY  PROPOSED  FOR  HISTORY  ....  59 
Contradictions  and  inconsistencies  ....  60 

Aims  not  peculiar  to  history 61 

Objection  to  indiscriminate  listing  of  aims  ...  63 
Tendency  to  treat  aims  as  values  ....  64 

CRITICISM  OF  VALUES  CLAIMED  FOR  HISTORY  .  .  .65 
Tangible  results  admitted  and  condemned  ...  65 

Nietzsche's  diagnosis  of  historitis 66 

Protest  of  futurists 67 

"Exaggerated  respect"  for  the  past  not  impossible  .  68 
Tangible  results  denied 69 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS  XXI 

PAGE 

THE  SEARCH  FOR  SPECIFIC  AIMS  AND  VALUES  .  .  .71 
Need  of  recognizing  kinds  of  history  .  .  .  .72 
Conditions  presented  by  uncritical  history  .  .  .72 
Conditions  presented  by  critical  history  73 

Controlling  aim  suggested  by  idea  of  development  .  74 

MAKING  THE  SOCIAL  WORLD  INTELLIGIBLE  .  .  .  .75 

General  procedure 75 

Incidental  consequences 76 

Some  objections  examined 78 

Kinds  of  facts  to  be  emphasized 81 

HISTORY  FOR  ITS  OWN  SAKE 82 

CHAPTER  IV 
HISTORY  IN  THE  SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE 

BEFORE  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 84 

Early  use  of  traditions  .        .        .        .        . 

Obstacles  to  more  formal  instruction      .... 

Sixteenth-century  advocates  of  history  .... 
THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY        .        .        .        ;,...,. 

Comenius 

Christian  Weise 

History  in  the  schools  of  the  Oratorians 
THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

Conditions  unfavorable  to  history          .... 

Leading  advocates  of  historical  instruction     . 

General  conceptions  of  school  history     .... 

Influence  of  Rousseau 

THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Objections  to  history  exceptional 

Patriotism  turned  attention  to  national  history 

Patriotism  the  dominant  purpose  .... 

Effect  of  patriotism  on  school  programs 

Conceptions  of  grading  history 


XX11  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

PAGB 

HISTORY  PROGRAMS  FOR  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 

Programs  for  boys  in  France 103 

Programs  for  girls  in  France  .        .        .        ...     109 

Programs  for  boys  in  Germany no 

Programs  for  girls  hi  Germany       .        .        .        .        .116 
Programs  hi  other  countries 118 

GENERAL  CONDITIONS  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  .       .        .123 
Some  typical  elementary  programs         .        .        .        .124 

SUMMARY  OF  PROGRESS  TO  THE  PRESENT      .        .        .        .125 

CHAPTER  V 

HISTORY    IN    THE    SCHOOL    CURRICULUM    IN    THE 

UNITED  STATES 
BEGINNINGS  OF  HISTORICAL  INSTRUCTION     .       .       .       .127 

Conditions  before  1815 127 

History  hi  academies 128 

History  in  elerrientary  schools 130 

Early  conceptions  of  the  subject 131 

DEVELOPMENT  UP  TO  ABOUT  1870 131 

POSITION  OF  HISTORY,  1870-1892 132 

THE  MADISON  CONFERENCE 134 

INFLUENCE  OF  COLLEGE  ENTRANCE  REQUIREMENTS      .        .137 

COMMITTEE  OF  SEVE^ 142 

COMMITTEE  OF  FIVE 148 

COMMITTEE  OF  FIFTEEN 150 

COMMITTEE  OF  TWELVE 151 

VARIOUS  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  ELEMENTARY  PROGRAMS     .        .152 

COMMITTEE  OF  EIGHT  154 

COMPARISONS  WITH  EUROPE 155 

AMERICAN  CONSERVATISM 158 

DEMAND  FOR  SOCIAL  STUDIES 159 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY 
THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  DEFINED       .        .        .        .161 
EARLY  CONCEPTIONS  OF  BIOGRAPHY      .  .     162 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS  XX111 

PAGE 

ROUSSEAU  AN  ADVOCATE  OF  BIOGRAPHY      .       .       .       .163 

BIOGRAPHY  ADAPTED  TO  SCHOOLS 163 

THE  ARGUMENT  FOR  BIOGRAPHY  .        .        .        .        .        .    164 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SELECTION 165 

MORAL  AND  PATRIOTIC  AIMS 168 

BIOGRAPHY  AND  THE  GREAT-MAN  THEORY   .        .        .        .171 

GROUPING  MEN  ABOUT  EVENTS  173 

LACK  OF  CONTINUITY  IN  BIOGRAPHICAL  TREATMENT     .        .176 

CHAPTER  VII 
THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS 

DIFFERENTIATION  FROM  BIOGRAPHY 178 

GROUP  ACTIVITIES  IN  EARLY  SCHOOL  HISTORY     .        .        .179 

DEMANDS  FOR  A  LARGER  VIEW 179 

MATERIALS  FOR  A  LARGER  VIEW 180 

CARLYLE  AND  MACAULAY      .        .        .        .        ...        .  ^181 

WEBER'S  Lehrbuch        .        .  , 182 

THE  CAMPAIGN  FOR  KULTURGESCHICHTE      .        .        .        .183 

FINDING  GROUP  CHARACTERISTICS 186 

FIRST  STEPS  IN  THE  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  GROUPS  .  .  .189 
INTRODUCTION  THROUGH  HISTORY  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND  .  190 
STUDY  OF  A  BROOM-CORN  COMMUNITY  .  .  .  .194 

MATERIALS  FOR  STUDIES  OF  LARGER  GROUPS       .        .        .196 

BIEDERMANN'S  PLAN .        .197 

NEED  OF  A  COMPREHENSIVE  SCHEME  OF  CLASSIFICATION      .    198 

CHAPTER  VIII 
MAKING  THE  PAST  REAL 

THE  PROCESS  INVOLVED 202 

USE  OF  THE  COMMUNITY 203 

MUSEUMS      .        .        .        ..,,..        .        .        .  205 

HISTORICAL  EXCURSIONS 206 

SPECIAL  AIDS  TO  VISUALIZATION 208 

CASTS  AND  MODELS      .       .       .  .       .       .       .  209 


XXIV  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PICTURES 210 

MAPS,  CHARTS,  AND  DIAGRAMS 213 

CONDITIONS  PRESENTED  BY  VERBAL  DESCRIPTION  .  -215 
Generalities  in  elementary  history  .  .  .  "  .  216 
Appearance  of  interest  may  be  misleading  .  .  .217 

Need  of  concrete  details 218 

OBSTACLES  TO  USE  OF  DETAILS 219 

SPECIAL  DEVICES  FOR  UTILIZING  DETAILS    .        .        .        .221 
REALIZATION  OF  THE  PAST  AT  BEST  DIFFICULT     .        .        .223 

CHAPTER  IX 
THE  USE  OF  MODELS  AND  PICTURES 

PRIMARY  PURPOSE .    225 

THE  EXHIBITION  IDEA .    226 

NATURE  OF  THE  IMAGES  EVOKED 227 

ABSTRACTION  IN  MODELS  AND  PICTURES       .        .        .        .228 

THE  CONCEPTION  OF  SIZE 229 

VISUALIZING  DETAILS    .        . 231 

INTERPRETATION 231 

STUDY  OF  A  ROMAN  HOUSE  —  HENSELL  MODEL  .        .        .232 

THE  STORY  ELEMENT  m  PICTURES 234 

NEED  OF  SUPPLEMENTARY  VERBAL  DESCRIPTION  .        .        .235 

THE  ^ESTHETIC  FACTOR     ' 236 

EXERCISES  IN  IDENTIFYING  MODELS  AND  PICTURES 
WHY  MODELS  AND  PICTURES  SHOULD  BE  ACCURATE 


DATA  IN  MAP  REPRESENTATION 
WHY  MAPS  ARE  ESSENTIAL 
THE  POINTING  EXERCISE 
REALIZING  LOCATION 
ESTIMATING  EXTENT  AND  AREA 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  XXV 

PAGE 

ADJUSTMENT  TO  DIFFERENCES  IN  SCALES  OF  MAPS  .  .250 
ADJUSTMENT  TO  DIFFERENCES  IN  MAP  PROJECTIONS  .  .250 
VISUALIZING  ACTUAL  GEOGRAPHICAL  ENVIRONMENT  .  -251 
GEOGRAPHIC  CONDITIONS  AND  HUMAN  DEVELOPMENT  .  .252 

HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY 254 

EXERCISES  IN  MAP  CONSTRUCTION 257 

Reproductions  from  memory 257 

Constructions  from  documents 258 

Decree  of  Louis  the  Pious,  817        .        .        .        .     259 

Route  of  Columbus,  1492 260 

Land  grants,  Charter  of  1606          .        .        .        .     263 
Materials  for  other  studies 268 

CHAPTER  XI 

I/ TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY 

RELATION  OF  THE  TEXTBOOK  TO  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  TEXTBOOKS 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AMERICAN  TEXTBOOKS 

Books  for  intermediate  grades 

Books  for  grammar  grades 

High  school  textbooks 

BREVITY  NEED  NOT  IMPLY  VAGUENESS         .... 

THE  QUESTION  OF  ACCURACY 

POINT  OF  VIEW  AND  PROPORTIONS 

PICTURES,  MAPS,  AND  DIAGRAMS          . 
REFERENCES  FOR  COLLATERAL  READING       .        . 
TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  AND  INDEX  .        . 

PEDAGOGICAL  AIDS        .        .        .    . 

QUALITIES  THAT  MAKE  A  BOOK  INTERESTING 

CHAPTER  XII 
THE  USE  OF  TEXTBOOKS 

PLACE  OF  THE  TEXTBOOK  IN  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS  .  .  286 
PLACE  OF  THE  TEXTBOOK  IN  EUROPEAN  SCHOOLS  .  .  287 


XXVI  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THE  OLD-FASHIONED  TEXTBOOK  RECITATION        .       .       .  289 
TYPE  OF  RECITATION  DETERMINED  IN  PART  BY  TYPE  OF 

TEXTBOOK 291 

USE  or  SUMMARY  TYPE 291 

USE  OF  FULLER  TEXTBOOK  TREATMENT        ....  294 
PRELIMINARY  TESTS  OF  PUPIL'S  ABILITY      .        .        .        .295 

QUESTIONS  AS  AIDS  TO  STUDY 297 

OUTLINES  AS  AIDS  TO  STUDY 299 

PROBLEMS  AS  AIDS  TO  STUDY 301 

DICTATION  AND  Explication  IN  FRANCE         ....  304 

NEED  OF  TRAINING  IN  INDEPENDENT  STUDY  ....  305 

THE  QUESTION-AND-ANSWER  METHOD          ....  307 

THE  COOPERATIVE  OUTLINE 307 

TEACHING  THE  PUPIL  HOW  TO  STUDY 308 

OTHER  USES  OF  THE  TEXTBOOK 311 

THE  USE  OF  MORE  THAN  ONE  TEXTBOOK      .        .        .        .312 

THE  ART  OF  QUESTIONING 313 

WRITTEN  WORK   . 318 

GIVING  THE  PUPIL  A  CHANCE 319 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  COLLATERAL 
READING 

AMERICAN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 323 

SOME  FUNDAMENTAL  DEFECTS 325 

PRELIMINARY  QUESTIONS 328 

WHY  COLLATERAL  READING  is  ESSENTIAL    .        .        .        -329 
DIFFERENTIATION  OF  AIMS  AND  TREATMENT         .        .        .331 

Appeals  to  sense  of  reality 331 

Readings  for  information 331 

Readings  for  inspiration 332 

Illustrating  historical  literature 333 

Illustrating  the  historical  method 334 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS  XXV11 


GENERAL  RANGE  OF  SELECTION 335 

READING  TO  THE  CLASS 336 

READING  BY  THE  CLASS 339 

How  TO  ASSIGN  COLLATERAL  READING         ....  341 

THE  PUPIL'S  RECORD  OF  READING 343 

TESTS  OF  MATERIAL 344 

THE  SELECTION  OF  A  LIBRARY 345 

A  BAD  TRADITION        .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  348 

CHAPTER  XIV 
SCHOOL   HISTORY  AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD 

HISTORY  AS  ASSURED  KNOWLEDGE 350 

Elementary  school  Columbus 351 

A  critical  historian's  Columbus 352 

ARGUMENTS  FOR  A  DOGMATIC  TREATMENT    .       .       .       -354 

To  avoid  confusion 354 

To  further  "salutary  purposes" 355 

Errors  unimportant 356 

His  Story  AND  HISTORY 356 

ARGUMENT  FOR  DISCRIMINATION 358 

PROCESSES  TO  BE  ILLUSTRATED 359 

RAISING  THE  QUESTION  OF  How  WE  KNOW  .        .        .        .361 

ELEMENTARY  EXERCISES  IN  HISTORICAL  CRITICISM       .        .  365 

A  textbook  exercise 366 

The  Pocahontas  story 368 

An  author  and  his  sources      .        .        .        .        .        .  372 

ELEMENTARY  EXERCISES  IN  SYNTHESIS         ....  377 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  HISTORICAL  METHOD  FOR  THE  HIGH 

SCHOOL 378 

Classification  of  materials 379 

A  printed  form 379 

Subjects  for  papers 380 

Quests  for  material 380 

Analysis  of  material 382 

1 


XXV111  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Criticism  illustrated  by  critics 383 

Exercises  in  grouping  facts 385 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE     CORRELATION     OF     HISTORY     WITH     OTHER 
SUBJECTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

INCIDENTAL  CORRELATION     .        ...        .        .        .    389 

SYSTEMATIC  CORRELATION     .        .  .        t        .        .391 

CONDITIONS  OF  SYSTEMATIC  CORRELATION  .        .        .    393 

RELATIONS  BETWEEN  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY  .        .        .    394 

Correlation  in  European  schools 394 

Conditions  in  the  United  States     .        .  .        .    397 

RELATIONS  BETWEEN  HISTORY  AND  LITERATURE  .        .        .    398 

History  for  the  sake  of  literature 398 

The  search  for  mutual  contributions       ....    399 

Claims  for  historical  fiction  401 

Historians  and  the  historical  novel         ....    402 

Contributions  of  history  to  literature     ....    405 

Contributions  of  literature  to  history     ....    406 

RELATIONS  BETWEEN  HISTORY  AND  GOVERNMENT         .        .    406 

Correlation  hi  Europe  407 

Views  of  Committee  of  Seven      <  .        .        .        .        .     408 

Views  of  Committee  of  Political  Science  Association      .    409 

Arrangement  suggested  by  Committee  of  Five       .        .411 

HISTORY  AS  A  CENTRAL  SUBJECT  IN  THE  CURRICULUM  .        .413 

CHAPTER  XVI 
THE  HISTORY  EXAMINATION 

EARLY  SCHOOL  EXAMINATIONS 414 

EUROPEAN  EXAMINATION  SYSTEMS  .  .  .  .  .416 
SCHOOL  EXAMINATIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  .  .  .417 
GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  HISTORY  EXAMINATION  .  419 
AN  EXAMINATION  PAPER  IN  HISTORY  SET  IN  ENGLAND  .  419 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS  XXIX 

PAGE 

AN  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  ENTRANCE  EXAMINATION  IN  HISTORY  421 

CRITICISM  OF  THE  Two  PAPERS 423 

ANSWERS  OF  EXAMINERS  TO  SUCH  CRITICISM        .        .        .  424 

TRUTH  ON  BOTH  SIDES          .        .        .        .                .        .  426 

HISTORY  EXAMINATIONS  SHOULD  INCLUDE  TESTS  OF  PRO- 
CESSES           427 

Possible  modes  of  procedure 428 

Illustrative  exercises 

Map  interpretation          .        .        .        .                 .  429 
Comparison  and  appreciation          .        .        .        .429 

Determination  of  facts 431 

Recognition  of  degrees  of  probability      .        .        .432 

Finding  what  is  important      .        .        .  •      .        .  433 

Adjustment  to  existing  conditions          ....  436 

Appendix  I.  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  HISTORY  TEACHING  .        .  439 
Appendix  II.   GUIDES  TO  HISTORICAL  LITERATURE      .        .  443 
Appendix  III.  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  ILLUSTRATIVE  MATERIAL,! 
WITH  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  SMALL  COL- 
LECTION OF  FOREIGN  MATERIAL    .        .  446 
Appendix  IV.  SELECTED  REFERENCES         ....  450 
Appendix  V.  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  TEXT      .        .        .        .475 


TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

CHAPTER  I 
WHAT  HISTORY  Is 

HISTORY,  in  its  broadest  sense,  is  everything  that 
ever  happened.  It  is  the  past  itself,  whatever  that 
may  be.  But  the  past  cannot  be  observed  directly. 
What  is  known  about  it  must  be  learned  from  such 
traces  of  former  conditions  and  events  as  time  and 
chance  and  the  foresight  of  man  may  have  preserved. 
Our  practical  concern  in  forming  a  conception  of  his- 
tory is,  therefore,  with  these  traces,  the  method  em- 
ployed in  studying  them,  and  the  results  of  the  study. 
Traces  of  past  facts  of  any  kind  may  be  regarded  as 
possible  material.  We  speak  of  a  history  of  plants, 
of  animals,  and  even  of  inanimate  nature.  But  his- 
tory in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  term  means  the 
history  of  man.  The  materials  to  be  studied  are  the 
traces  left  by  his  existence  in  the  world,  his  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  actions. 

The  traces  left  by  the  human  past  are,  by  students  of 


2  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

history,  commonly  called  sources.  They  are  found  in 
fdhns  so  various  that  exhaustive  classification  is  difficult 
and  complete  enumeration  impossible.  In  some  sense, 
everything  that  man  now  is  or  has  is  a  trace  left  by  the 
past  :•  present  personal  memories,  present  mental  habits, 
present  ideals,  present  social  customs  and  institutions, 
language,  literature,  material  products  of  human  in- 
dustry, physical  man  himself  and  the  physical  remains 
of  men.  In  general,  two  kinds  of  sources  are  distinguish- 
able: (i)  those  that  bear  some  evidence  of  conscious  \ 
intent  to  transmit  information;  and  (2)  those  that 
have  come  down  to  us  as  mere  relics  or  survivals  of  past 
conditions  or  events.  Sources  of  the  first  kind  are 
often  (called  traditions.  They  include:  (i)  oral  tradi-Jj 
tions,  reports,  that  is,  transmitted  orally  —  legends, 
sagas,  ballads,  anecdotes;  (2)  written  or  printed  rec- 
ords —  inscriptions,  genealogical  tables,  lists  of  officials, 
annals,  chronicles,  memoirs,  biographies,  narratives  in 
general ;  (3)  pictorial  representations  —  paintings, 
statues,  photographs  of  persons  or  places,  plans  of 
buildings,  of  cities,  of  battlefields,  maps,  diagrams.. 
Sources  of  the  second  kind  are  often  called  remains. :  - 
They  are,  as  the  term  suggests,  actual  survivals  of  the 
past  in  language,  in  literary  or  other  artistic  expression, 
in  industrial  productions,  in  laws  and  customs.  The 
distinction  thus  indicated  is,  for  some  purposes,  im- 


WHAT    HISTORY    IS  3 

portant.  It  is,  however,  not  one  that  can  be  applied 
in  any  absolute  way.  Some  sources  may  be  regarded 
either  as  conscious  or  unconscious  testimony,  that  is, 
either  as  traditions  or  remains,  according  to  the  point 
of  view  from  which  they  are  considered.  A  newspaper, 
for  example,  contains  conscious  representations  of  con- 
ditions and  events;  it  is  at  the  same  time,  not  only  a 
direct  material  remain,  but,  even  as  a  report,  an  un- 
conscious reflection  of  the  tastes,  the  interests,  the 
desires,  and  the  spirit,  of  its  day.  Not  all  remains  are 
traditions,  but  all  traditions  are,  from  one  point  of  view, 
remains. 

f  Sources  are  further  distinguished .  as  primary  and 
/  derived.  Primary  sources,  called  also  original  sources, 
and  sometimes  simply  sources,  are  either  direct  material 
remains,  or  the  direct  impression  or  expression,  in  some 
form,  of  the  age  to  which  they  relate.  They  may  be 
roads,  bridges,  buildings,  monuments,  coins,  tools, 
clothing,  human  remains.  They  may  be  personal 
memories  of  facts  actually  observed,  reports  made  by 
actual  observers,  actual  texts  of  laws,  decrees,  orders, 
charters,  constitutions,  judicial  decisions,  treaties,  offi- 
cial instructions,  business  documents.  Derived  sources 
may  be  secondary,  that  is,  representations  based  directly 
upon  primary,  sources ;  they  may  be  tertiary,  that  is, 
representations  based  directly  upon  secondary  sources; 


4  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

they  may  be  representations  based  upon  other  repre- 
sentations to  the  wth  degree.  But  here  again  the  classi- . 
fication  is  not  one  that  can  be  applied  in  any  absolute 
way.  In  the  first  place,  many  sources  are  of  a  mixed 
character,  partly  primary  and  partly  derived.  Com- 
paratively few  observers  confine  their  reports  to  what 
they  themselves  have  directly  observed.  Statements 
based  upon  their  own  observation  are  mingled  with 
statements  based  upon  the  reports  of  others.  Similarly 
derived  sources  may  be  in  part  secondary,  in  part  ter- 
tiary, in  part  of  the  wth  degree.  In  the  second  place, 
the  same  source  may  for  one  purpose  be  primary  and 
for  another  purpose  derived.  John  Fiske's  account  of 
what  happened  at  Lexington,  April  19,  1775,  is  a  pri- 
mary source  for  determining  John  Fiske's  conception 
of  the  events  at  Lexington ;  it  is  a  derived  soufceTfor 
obtaining  information  about  the  events  themselves. 

The  mass  of  existing  sources  is  in  the  aggregate  enor- 
mous. No  single  mortal  mind  can  hope  to  explore  them 
all.  Yet  most  facts  in  passing  leave  no  durable  trace. 
Most  of  them,  indeed,  vanish  almost  immediately  in  ob- 
livion. This  is  true  of  the  twentieth  century  with  all  its 
marvelous  agencies  for  discovering  and  recording  itself. 
/It  is  obviously  true  in  a  higher  degree  of  earlier  cen- 
turies. The  farther  back  we  go,  the  greater  in  general 
the  proportion  of  loss.  The  remoter  past  is  thus  left 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  5 

exceedingly  obscure.  Fragments  of  human  skeletons 
and  objects  of  human  workmanship  are  found  in  such 
positions  in  the  earth  and  in  such  relations  to  other 
remains  as  to  suggest  a  great  antiquity  for  man.  Dif- 
ferences in  workmanship  and  in  the  kinds  of  material 
used  suggest  certain  broad  stages  of  development. 
But  little  more  of  the  earlier  progress  of  man  is  indicated. 
Traces  of  particular  events  have  not  survived.  No  one 
knows,  for  example,  how  or  when  or  where  men  invented 
the  bow  and  arrow,  how  or  when  or  where  they  first 
learned  to  make  fire  and  to  apply  it  in  their  arts,  how  or 
when  or  where  they  first  tamed  the  dog  and  cow.  For 
the  transmission  of  information  of  this  character  tradi- 
tions of  some  kind  are  indispensable.  Without  them  so 
little  can,  on  the  whole,  be  known  that  the  entire  period 
for  which  they  no  longer  exist  is  commonly  described  as 
"prehistoric."  The  duration  of  this  period  is  uncertain. 
Current  estimates  of  it  reach  tens  and  even  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years.  In  any  case,  what  'is  called  the 
"historic  period,"  the  period,  that  is,  beginning  with 
recorded  traditions,  is  in  comparison  relatively  brief. 
The  oldest  traditions  can  scarcely  be  dated  back  more 
than  six  or  seven  thousand  years.  The  beginnings  of 
any  considerable  accumulation  of  them  can  scarcely  be 
dated  back  more  than  three  thousand  years,  and  even 
here  the  course  of  life  is,  in  the  main,  indicated  vaguely 


to 
V/  c 


6  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

and  in  a  disconnected  way.  The  conditions  are  not  of 
course  uniform  for  all  peoples  and  countries.  The 
beginnings  of  the  historic  period  in  Egypt  lie  far  back  of 
the  beginnings  in  Greece  ;  the  beginnings  of  the  historic 
period  in  Greece  lie  far  back  of  the  beginnings  in  England  ; 
the  beginnings  of  the  historic  period  in  England  lie  far 
back  of  the  beginnings  in  America.  In  any  case,  how- 
ever, it  is  scarcely  until  we  approach  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era  that  traditions  become  rela- 
tively .full,  relatively  definite,  and  relatively  continuous. 
The  distinction  between  prehistoric  and  historic  is, 
therefore,  somewhat  misleading.  There  is  no  sudden 
nor  general  dissipation  of  darkness  in  passing  from  one 
to  the  other.  The  historic  period  is,  for  most  countries, 
in  places  quite  as  obscure  as  the  prehistoric  period.  Nor 
is  there  evidence  of  any  sudden  or  general  advance  in 
the  conditions  of  human  life  to  mark  the  transition  and 
justify  the  distinction.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is 
that  the  sources,  always  fragmentary,  are  more  so  for 
some  periods  than  for  others,  that  most  of  the  sources 
now  (extant  relate  to  comparatively  recent  times,  and 
that  the  oldest  sources  consist  exclusively  of  uncon- 
scious material  remains. 

The  method  employed  in  studying  sources  is  the  his- 
rical method.    It  embraces  two  kinds  of  operations, 
criticism  and  synthesis.     Criticism  seeks,  in  the  first 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  7 

place,  to  determine  the  specific  character  of  a  source. 
Is  the  source  what  it  purports  to  be  or  is  represented 
to  be?  Is  it  an  original  or  a  copy  or  reconstruction? 
If  an  original,  has  it  been  altered  in  the  course  of  trans- 
mission ?  If  a  copy  or  reconstruction,  does  it  reproduce 
with  accuracy  the  original?  Questions  such  as  these 
belong  to  the  domain  of  external  criticism.  Illustrations 
of  the  need  of  asking  them  are  not  far  to  seek.  One 
has  but  to  visit  shops  where  "antiques"  are  offered  for 
sale,  or  follow  the  interesting  discoveries  of  "new  his- 
torical material"  reported  from  time  to  time  in  the 
newspapers.  A  wax  bust  acquired  by  a  museum  in  Ber- 
lin is  attributed  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  but  claimed  also 
for  a  modern  Englishman.  A  letter  credited  to  Grover 
Cleveland,  and  published  as  his  shortly  after  his  death, 
is  repudiated  by  his  executors.  A  fac^imi[e  of  a  colonial 
newspaper  designed  to  throw  new  light  on  the  Meck- 
lenburg Declaration  of  Independence  is  shown  to  be 
fraudulent.  Other  recent  discoveries  include  a  rune- 
stone  from  Minnesota,  alleged  to  have  been  left  there 
by  the  Norsemen  in  1362,  and  a  copper  cylinder  from 
Michigan,  said  to  contain  the  diary  of  Noah. 

It  is  the  province  of  external  criticism  to  clear  the 
field  of  spurious  sources  and  to  determine  the  origin  and 
original  form  of  sources  accepted  as  genuine.  In  the 
case  of  written  or  printed  documents,  the  aim  is  to 


8  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

produce  a  "pure  text,"  with  indications  as  to  authorship 
and  time,  place,  and  circumstances  of  composition. 
This  is  often  a  complicated  matter.  In  a  multitude  of 
cases  the  originals  of  documents  have  been  lost  and  only 
copies  have  come  down  to  us,  many  of  them  anonymous 
and  undated,  many  of  them  made,  not  from  originals, 
but  from  other  copies.  There  is  internal  evidence  that 
the  scribes,  even  when  capable  and  conscientious,  were 
at  best  fallible  and  that  often  they  were  neither  capa- 
ble nor  conscientious.  Petrarch  in  his  day  found  them 
so  incompetent  that  he  declared  the  task  of  writing  a 
book  easier  than  that  of  getting  one  properly  copied. 
"Such,"  he  says,  "is  the  ignorance,  laziness,  or  arro- 
gance, of  these  fellows  that  they  do  not  reproduce  what 
you  give  them  but  write  out  something  quite  different."  l 
With  the  introduction  of  printing,  conditions  were 
vastly  improved,  but  the  occasion  for  criticism  like 
Petrarch's  did  not  entirely  pass  away.  Cotton  Mather, 
reading  his  Magnolia  fresh  from  the  press,  was  moved 
to  add  to  his  catalogue  of  impossibilities  a  "book  printed 
without  erratas."  Recalling  other  offenses  of  composi- 
tors, he  went  so  far  as  to  accuse  them  of  having  put 
into  the  Psalms,  in  one  edition  of  the  Bible,  the  statement, 
"Printers  have  persecuted  me."2  Such  formal  docu- 

1  Robinson  and  Rolfe,  Petrarch,  28. 

8  Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  Edition  of  1853,  p.  xxxvii. 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  9 

ments  as  wills,  laws,  charters,  and  constitutions  are 
naturally  drawn  with  care,  and  when  there  is  occasion 
for  reproducing  them,  whether  in  manuscript  or  print, 
they  are  likely  to  be  reproduced  with  care.  But  the 
production  of  perfect  copy,  even  in  cases  that  put  no 
special  strain  upon  the  intelligence,  demands  a  degree 
of  sustained  attention  difficult  to  attain.  Witness  the 
record  of  unsuccessful  attempts  to  print  the  exact  text 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.1 

External  criticism  is  usually  work  for  the  expert  and 
not  for  the  layman.  Different  kinds  of  sources  require 
for  their  criticism  different  kinds  of  special  knowledge. 
For  sources  relating  to  ancient  and  mediaeval  times, 
one  kind  of  question  may  involve  appeals  to  archaeology ; 
another  to  philology ;  another  to  egigraghy,the  science 
which  deals  with  the  classification  and  explanation  of 
inscriptions ;  another  to  paleography,  the  science 
which  deals  with  handwriting ;  another  to  diplomatics, 
the  science  which  deals  with  certain  special  classes  of 
documents,  such  as  charters,  contracts,  and  official 
registers;  another  to  chronology;  and  another  to 
still  other  special  sciences.  The  criticism  of  modern 
sources  is  less  formidable  and  the  training  needed  for 
it  is  less  technical,  but  even  here  the  critic  must  be  able 
to  use  a  more  or  less  highly  specialized  apparatus  and 

1  See  American  History  Leaflet,  No.  8,  p.  2. 


10  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

to  apply  rules,  principles,  doctrines,  and  facts,  beyond 
the  vken  of  general  readers  of  history.  The  labors  of  a 
long  line  of  able  and  devoted  scholars  have  been. devoted 
to  external  criticism.  Numerous  fraudulent  sources 
have  been  exposed.  Multitudes  of  "pure  texts"  have 
been  published.  Many  old  monuments  and  buildings 
have  been  restored.  Many  more,  like  those  of  the 
Athenian  Acropolis  and  the  Roman  Forum,  have  been 
reconstructed  in  drawings  or  pictures.  Photography 
and  the  mechanical  processes  dependent  upon  it  have  in 
our  day  removed  at  least  one  factor  of  human  error. 

External  criticism  seeks  to  ascertain  when,  where,  and 
by  whom,  a  source  was  produced  and  to  determine  pre- 
cisely its  original  form.  The  next  step  is  to  investigate 
the  meaning  of  the  source,  and  here  the  work  of  internal 
or  higher  criticism  begins.  The  question  of  meaning, 
it  is  true,  enters  also  into  external  criticism,  but  only 
as  an  aid  in  the  determination  of  other  questions.  In-/ 
ternal  criticism  seeks  the  meaning  as  an  end  in  itself. 
The  ideal  is  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  producer 
of  the  source,  to  reconstruct  theunental  states  through 
which  the  painter  passed  in  painting  the  picture,  the 
sculptor  in  carving  the  statue,  the  author  in  writing  the 
document.  The  procedure  in  approximating  this  ideal, 
at  least  in  the  case  of  the  written  or  printed  document, 
ought  to  be  fairly  familiar,  for  a  very  large  part  of  the 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  II 

educational  process  consists  in  finding  answers  to  the 
question,  "What  does  the  author  mean?"  The  general 
rule  is  simple;  it  is  merely  to  study  the  source  and 
not  ourselves.  The  difficulty  is  in  applying  the  rule. 
Take  the  case  of  the  document.  "What  happens," 
v  says  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  "is  that  a  kind  of  tacit  contest 
goes  on  between  the  text  and  the  preconceived  opinions 
of  the  reader ;  the  mind  refuses  to  grasp  what  is  contrary 
to  its  idea,  and  the  issue  of  the  contest  commonly  is, 
not  that  the  mind  surrenders  to  the  evidence  of  the 
text,  but  that  the  text  yields,  bends,  and  accommodates 
itself  to  the  preconceived  opinion.  ...  A  man  thinks 
he  is  contemplating  an  object,  and  it  is  his  own  idea  that 
he  is  contemplating.  He  thinks  he  is  observing  a  fact, 
and  the  fact  at  once  assumes  the  color  and  the  signifi- 
cance his  mind  wishes  it  to  have.  He  thinks  he  is 
reading  a  text,  and  the  words  of  the  text  take  a  par- 
ticular meaning  to  suit  a  ready-made  opinion."  l 

Language  is  at  best  somewhat  elusive.  The  writer 
who  can  express  himself  exactly  is,  perhaps,  as  rare  as 
the  reader  who  can  avoid  "tacit  contest"  with  a  text. 
Even  legislators  and  makers  of  constitutions,  who,  of 
all  men,  ought  to  define  their  intentions  with  exactness, 
sometimes  find  their  most  painstaking  efforts  defeated 

1Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History,  144, 
Note. 


12  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

by  the  equally  painstaking  efforts  of  the  judges  who 
are  called  upon  to  interpret  the  results.  Often  the 
problem  of  interpretation  raises  special  questions.  Did 
the  author  intend  his  statements  to  be  taken  literally 
or  figuratively?  Was  he  writing  seriously  or  indulg- 
ing in  humorous  exaggeration?  Did  the  words  which 

• 

he  employed  have  in  his  day  the  meaning  which 
we  attribute  to  them  to-day?  Attention  to  the  last 
question  alone  has  in  some  cases  revolutionized  long- 
established  opinions  concerning  the  past.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  supposed  that  all  documents  present  diffi- 
culties so  great  as  to  require  extraordinary  effort  to  un- 
ravel their  meaning.  Many  of  them,  for  most  uses, 
require  for  their  interpretation  only  such  effort  as  the 
most  casual  reader  would  put  forth. 

For  some  purposes,  to  establish  the  character  of  a 
source  and  its  meaning  is  sufficient.  What  is  desired 
is  acquaintance  with  the  conceptions  which  men  have 
held  in  the  past,  the  images  which  were  in  their  minds, 
their  ways  of  looking  at  the  world  or  the  universe.  It  is 
information  of  this  kind  that  makes  up  the  substance 
of  histories  of  art,  of  literature,  of  mythology,  of  phi- 
losophy, of  science,  of  religious  dogma,  of  law.  But,  for 
other  purposes,  to  understand  what  an  author  said 
is  only  a  beginning.  Did  he  believe  what  he  said?/ 
Was  he  in  a  position  to  know?  Did  he  have  the/ 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  13 

ability  to  represent  accurately  what  he  saw  or  heard 
or  read? 

Human  observation,  memory,  and  inference  are 
fallible.  Even  our  own  experiences  of  yesterday  may 
emerge  faded  and  distorted  from  the  accounts  which  we 
strive  to  give  of  them  to-day.  Trained  reporters,  writ- 
ing in  the  very  midst  of  events,  often  differ  widely  in 
their  versions  of  the  simplest  and  most  obvious  of  de- 
tails. Of  the  accounts  of  an  episode  in  a  peace  con- 
gress, a  few  years  ago,  a  speaker  whose  remarks  had 
met  with  a  somewhat  unexpected  retort  afterwards 
said:  "The  reporters  sat  immediately  in  front  of  the 
platform.  One  man  wrote  that  the  audience  was  so 
surprised  by  my  speech  that  it  received  it  in  complete 
silence ;  another  wrote  that  I  was  constantly  interrupted 
by  loud  applause,  and  that  at  the  end  of  my  address 
the  applause  continued  for  minutes.  The  one  wrote 
that  during  my  opponent's  speech  I  was  constantly 
smiling ;  the  other  noticed  that  my  face  remained  grave 
and  without  a  smile.  The  one  said  that  I  grew  purple 
red  from  excitement,  and  the  other  found  that  I  grew 
white  like  chalk.  The  one  told  us  that  my  critic  while 
speaking  walked  up  and  down  the  large  stage ;  and  the 
other  that  he  stood  all  the  while  at  my  side  and  patted 
me  in  a  fatherly  way  on  the  shoulder."  1 

1  McClure's  Magazine,  Vol.  29,  p.  536. 


14  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

The  failing  is  not  confined  to  reporters  for  newspapers. 
A  professional  historian  who  visited  Australia  in  1885, 
describing  his  first  view  of  Adelaide,  wrote:  "We  rose 
slightly  from  the  sea,  and  at  the  end  of  seven  miles  we 
saw  below  us  in  a  basin  with  the  river  winding  through 
it,  a  city  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants, 
not  one  of  whom  has  ever  known,  or  will  know,  a  mo- 
ment's anxiety  as  to  the  recurring  regularity  of  his  three 
meals  a  day." J  A  professional  critic  of  historians, 
quoting  the  passage  somewhat  inaccurately,  adds  the 
following  comment:  "Adelaide  is  on  high  ground,  not 
in  a  valley;  there  is  no  river  running  through  it;  its 
population  was  not  more  than  75,000;  and  at  the  very 
moment  when  Mr.  Froude  visited  it,  a  large  portion  of 
the  population  was  on  the  verge  of  starvation."  2  An- 
other professional  critic,  translating  somewhat  freely 
into  French  both  the  quotation  and  the  comment,  ends 
with  actual  famine  for  Adelaide.3  Those  who  selected 
the  site  for  the  city  thought  apparently  that  they  saw 
a  river.  "Adelaide,"  says  a  letter  written  in  1837,  "is 
to  be  on  the  bank  of  a  beautiful  stream."  4  A  recent 
historian  of  South  Australia  describes  the  site  as  compris- 

f  • 

1  Froude,  Oceana,  86. 

1  Fortnightly  Review,  December,  1894,  p.  815. 

1  Langlois  et  Seignobos,  Introduction  aux  Etudes  Historiques,  101. 
"Elle  souffrait  d'une  famine." 

4  Hodder,  History  of  South  Australia,  I,  63. 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  15 

ing  "a  southern  and  northern  elevation  with  a  small 
valley  and  river  between  them,"  l  and  the  still  more 
recent  eleventh  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica 
places  Adelaide  "on  the  banks  of  the  river  Torrens." 
Doubtless  citizens  of  Adelaide  have  had  some  moments 
of  anxiety  as  to  their  "three  meals  a  day."  The  year 
after  Froude's  visit  "began  with  great  depression. 
There  was  drought  throughout  the  country."  But 
"verge  of  starvation"  and  "famine"  seem  to  have 
evaded  the  recorder.2  Gazetteers  of  the  eighties,  it  may 
be  added,  made  the  population  of  the  city  proper  about 
38,000. 

Much  of  the  material  with  which  the  student  of  his- 
tory has  to  deal  is  the  work  neither  of  trained  reporters 
nor  of  trained  historians.  Much  of  it  is  of  such  a  char- 
acter as  to  place  him  "in  the  situation  of  a  chemist  who 
should  know  a  series  of  experiments  only  from  the  reports 
of  his  laboratory  boy."  3  Much  of  it  consists  of  reports 
made,  not  near  the  event,  but  long  after,  with  memory 
grown  dim  and  subject  to  distortion  through  the  changes 
I  in  point  of  view  and  in  interest  wrought  by  years.  Much 
of  it  consists  of  reports  made,  not  by  actual  observers, 
but  by  those  who  have  heard  or  read  the  reports  of 
others.  Much  of  it  is  mere  oral  tradition  the  original 

1  Hodder,  History  of  South  Australia  I,  63.  *  Ibid.,  II,  108. 

*  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History,  67. 


l6  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

content  of  which  may  have  disappeared  altogether  in 
the  course  of  transmission.  It  is  perhaps  not  strange, 
therefore,  that  some  thinkers  have  despaired  of  knowing 
the  past  at  all  and  have  come  to  look  upon  history  as 
little  more  than  a  collection  of  fables  which  men  have 
agreed  to  believe.  But  here  again  the  difficulties  must 
not  be  overestimated.  The  principles  and  rules  of 
internal  criticism  have  been  so  clearly  defined,  and  are 
now  so  skillfully  applied  by  hundreds  of  investigators, 
that  the  line  between  the  true  and  the  false,  or  at  least 
between  the  probable  and  the  improbable,  can,  for  an 
enormous  mass  of  material,  be  drawn  with  assurance. 

Historical  criticism  lays  the  foundation  for  a  rational 
belief  that  this  or  that  particular  event  actually  hap- 
pened, that  this  or  that  particular  condition  actually 
existed.  It  yields  those  isolated  pieces  of  information 
which  are  ordinarily  described  as  "  the  facts  of  his- 
tory." The  way  is  thus  prepared  for  synthesis,  for 
the  process,  that  is,  of  constructing  from  the  facts  a 
body  of  related  knowledge.  This  implies  selection  of 
facts,  grouping,  generalization,  organization.  The  prod- 
uct, conceived  either  as  a  body  of  knowledge  or  as  an 
account  or  narrative  in  which  that  body  of  knowledge  is 
set  forth,  is  history  in  the  sense  usually  attached  to  the 
term  by  makers  of  definitions  of  history. 

Facts  may  be  selected  because  they  are  interesting  or 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  1 7 

curious  or  memorable.  They  may  be  arranged  in  simple 
chronological  order  according  to  place  of  occurrence. 
They  may  be  grouped  for  aesthetic  effect.  General- 
ization may  be  confined  to  such  speculations  or  reflec- 
tions on  events  and  their  causes  as  happen  to  occur  to 
the  inquirer.  The  aim  may  be  to  perpetuate  the  fame 
of  striking  personalities  and  striking  events ;  it  may  be 
merely  to  make  a  good  story.  Constructions  of  this 
kind  are  commonly  based  upon  imperfect  criticism,  some- 
times upon  no  criticism  at  all.  They  represent  the 
simple  narrative  or  story-telling  conception  of  history. 
Again,  facts  may  be  selected  because  they  are  useful 
in  business,  in  politics,  in  religion,  in  education.  .The 
search  may  be  for  precedents  to  enlighten  statesmen, 
generals,  and  others,  for  arguments  to  support  a  cause 
or  a  theory,  for  ethical  ideals  to  inspire  the  world  in 
general.'  The  facts,  as  in  story-telling  history,  may  be 
arranged  either  according  to  time  and  place  of  occur- 
rence, or  with  such  modifications  of  this  grouping  as 
promise  to  heighten  aesthetic  effect.  Generalisation 
may  involve  careful  induction  and  may  rise  to  the  dig- 
nity of  philosophic  explanation.  It  may  amount  to 
little  more  than  offhand  moralizing  designed  to  make 
the  "lessons  of  history"  as  impressive  as  possible. 
Constructions  of  this  kind  represent  the  didactic  con-  & 
ception  of  history.  They  may  be  based  upon  thorough- 


1 8  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

going  criticism,  for,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  the  lessons 
of  history  to  be  really  useful  must  also  be  really  true. 
But  didactic  history  may  be  as  innocent  of  criticism 
as  any  mere  story-telling  history. 

Finally,  facts  may  be  selected  because  they  are  impor- 
tant or  significant  as  illustrations  or  explanations  of  what 
the  past  was,  of  how  it  came  to  be  what  it  was,  of  how 
the  present  grew  out  of  it.  Every  condition  or  event 
may  be  viewed  as  a  stage  in  a  continuous  process  of  devel- 
opment or  evolution.  Every  condition  or  event  may  be 
conceived  as  related  to  something  that  went  before  and 
to  something  that  came  after.  In  any  series  the  facts 
selected  may  be  those  that  seem  best  to  represent  and 
to  explain  a  particular  course  of  development.  It  may 
be  the  development  of  an  individual,  of  a  nation,  of 
government,  of  religion,  of  education;  it  may  be  the 
development  of  cookery,  of  dressmaking,  or  even  of 
toys.  The  ideal,  which  is  of  course  unattainable,  is 
to  represent  and  to  explain  the  whole  development  of 
civilization.  Here  criticism  assumes  its  full  function, 
for  the  aim  of  this  kind  of  construction  is  first  and  fun- 
damentally to  be  true.  It  represents  the  scientific 
conception  of  history. 

History  admits,  therefore,  of  no  very  exact  definition. 
Historical  construction  varies,  and  has  varied  through 
the  ages,  with  the  varying  tastes,  interests,  and  purposes 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  IQ 

of  historians.  The  earliest  representations  of  past 
conditions  and  events  seem  to  have  been  those  of  epic 
poets  and  story-tellers,  who,  untroubled  by  the  problems 
of  criticism,  usually  took  what  appealed  to  them  or 
promised  to  appeal  to  their  public,  and  whose  "  visions," 
embracing  chiefly  gods  and  heroes,  we  now  classify  as 
myths,  legends,  and  fables.  The  original  of  the  word 
"  history,"  a  creation  of  the  Greeks,  had,  however,  from 
the  beginning  a  more  serious  meaning.  It  is  applied  in 
>/  Homer  to  the  examination  of  evidence  in  a  legal  dispute. 
A  case  is  brought  before  a  man  of  skill  who  "  inquires 
into  the  alleged  facts  and  decides  what  the  true  facts 
are."  *  lo-Topiy  (historic),  in  early  Greek  usage,  meant 
such  an  inquiry,  (gr  any  inquiry  designed  to  elicit  truth, 
hence  the  knowledge  so  obtained,  information  on  any 
subject.  This  was,  of  course,  not  history  in  the  sense 
here  under  consideration.  But  when  Herodotus,  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  applied  the  term 
to  distinctly  historical  information  and  for  the  "  showing 
forth"  of  his  "  Inquiry"  composed  the  famous  narrative, 
which  in  time  won  for  him  the  honorable  title  of  "  father 
of  history,"  it  was  still  information  collected  in  the  old 
spirit  of  inquiry.  That  spirit  had,  indeed,  without  the 
name,  already  been  applied  to  historical  inquiry.  Even 
some  of  the  poets  had  done  a  certain  amount  of  inquir- 

1  Bury,  Ancient  Greek  Historians,  16. 


20  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

ing  and  comparing,  and  Hecataeus  of  Miletus,  who  died 
about  476  B.C.,  had  announced  in  sober  prose :   "I  write 
what  I  deem  to  be  true,  for  the  traditions  of  the  Greeks   , 
seem  to  me  manifold  and  laughable."  l    But  this  early   • 
criticism    was   naturally    defective,    and    constructions 
based  upon  it  continued  to  be  largely  mythical.     Herod- 
otus  was  a  real  investigator.     He  traveled  widely  and 

*^M.^HMMV^MMV»<*.^»>>»^^»^»MWB^*M«v*BWMH^MHM|*MHM^dBfc  *""'"'—- 

collected  a  vast  amount  of  information.  His  work, 
embracing  the  geography  and  history  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  world  known  to  his  day,  reveals  a  conscious 
and  constant  seeker  after  truth,  which,  he  is  careful 
to  warn  the  reader,  is  not  always  attainable.  Fre- 
quently, when  his  inquiries  leave  him  in  doubt,  he  pre- 
sents opposing  versions  of  the  facts  alleged,  so  that  the 
reader  can  decide  for  himself  which  is  the  more  prob- 
able version.  Several  times,  also,  he  takes  occasion  ex- 
pressly to  disclaim  personal  responsibility.  "  As  to  the 
tales  told  me  by  the  Egyptians,"  he  says,  "  any  man 
may  accept  them  to  whom  such  things  appear  credible ; 
as  for  me,  it  is  to  be  understood  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  history  that  I  write  by  hearsay  that  which  is 
reported  by  the  people  in  each  place."  2  But  Herodotus 
himself  was  above  all  a  story-teller,  an  artist  in  prose, 
and  his  work,  like  many  a  less  critical  tale,  professes  no 

1  Encyclopedia  Brttannica,  nth  Ed.,  XIII,  528. 
*Macaulay's  Translation,  Book  VII,  122. 


WHAT    HISTORY    IS  21 

other  aim  than  that  of  preserving  the  memory  of  what  he 
conceived  to  be  memorable.  He  was  the  father  of 
narrative  history  and  in  this  field  he  remains  a  master 
and  model. 

While  Herodotus  in  his  closing  years  was  still  retouch- 
ing his  history,  severer  standards  of  criticism  and  a  dif- 
ferent conception  of  history  were  developing  in  the  work 
of  Thucydides,  historian  of  the  Peloponnesian  War. 
Thucydides  began  to  write  when  the  war  itself  began, 
"  believing  that  it  would  be  great  and  memorable  above 
any  previous  war,"  :  and  he  continued  his  record  with 
the  progress  of  the  war  down  to  411  B.C.  By  way  of 
introduction  he  gave  a  brief  summary  of  the  preceding 
history  of  Hellas,  the  materials  for  which  seemed  to  him 
very  unsatisfactory.  "  Men,"  he  complains,  "  do  not 
discriminate,  and  are  too  ready  to  receive  ancient  tra- 
ditions about  their  own  as  well  as  about  other  countries," 2 
and  he  cites  examples  that  seem  to  include  Herodotus. 
His  own  sketch  grasps  essential  facts  in  the  mass  of 
legends  and  so  orders  the  facts  as  to  exhibit  a  "  reasoned 
march  of  development."  The  sources  for  the  body  of 
the  work  were  of  a  different  character.  "I  have,"  he 
says,  "  described  nothing  but  what  I  either  saw  myself, 
or  learned  from  others  of  whom  I  made  the  most  careful 

1  Jowett's  Translation,  Book  I,  i. 
*Ibid.,  20. 


22  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

and  particular  inquiry.  The  task  was  a  laborious  one, 
because  eye-witnesses  of  the  same  occurrences  gave  dif- 
ferent accounts  of  them,  as  they  remembered  or  were 
interested  in  the  actions  of  one  side  or  the  other."  In 
the  case  of  the  numerous  speeches  reported,  he  does  not 
profess  to  give  the  exact  words,  but  expresses  in  his  own 
way  "  the  general  purport  of  what  was  actually  said." 
His  purpose  was  not,  like  that  of  Herodotus,  merely  to 
preserve  in  pleasing  form  the  memory  of  what  was 
memorable.  He  considered  it  "very  likely"  that  his 
narrative  would  prove  ' '  disappointing  to  the  ear. "  "But 
if,"  he  adds,  "he  who  desires  to  have  before  his  eyes  a 
true  picture  of  the  events  which  have  happened,  and  of 
the  like  events  which  may  be  expected  to  happen  here- 
after in  the  order  of  human  things,  shall  pronounce  what 
I  have  written  to  be  useful,  then  I  shall  be  satisfied."  l 
His  aim  was  thus  distinctly  didactic.  He  hoped  that 
his  work  would  teach  political  lessons,  not  because 
they  were  presented  as  such,  but  because  "a  true  pic- 
ture" of  political  conditions  and  events  would  of  itself 
convey  political  lessons.  He  was  the  father  of  didactic  \ 
history  in  its  highest  and  best  sense. 

For  more  than  two  thousand  years  after  Herodotus 
and  Thucydides  the  narrative  and  the  didactic  types 
of  history  seemed  to  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  historical 

1  Jowett's  Translation,  Book  I,  22. 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  23 

construction.  The  particular  forms  which  they  as- 
sumed, the  particular  kinds  of  facts  which  they  cele- 
brated, the  particular  kinds  of  lessons  or  precedents 
which  they  sought  to  impress,  the  particular  philosophies 
which  they  invoked  to  explain  events  were  bewildering 
in  their  variety,  but  the  general  types  persisted.  The 
results,  as  seen  by  Buckle  in  1857,  were  disappointing. 
Buckle  praised  the  zeal  of  historians  and  conceded  the 
"immense  value  of  that  vast  body  of  facts  which  we 
now  possess,  and  by  aid  of  which  the  progress  of  man- 
kind is  to  be  investigated,"  but  the  use  that  had  been 
made  of  the  facts  presented  to  his  mind  "  a  very  differ- 
ent picture."  "  The  unfortunate  peculiarity  of  the  his- 
tory of  man,"  he  wrote,  "is,  that  although  its  separate 
parts  have  been  examined  with  considerable  ability, 
hardly  any  one  has  attempted  to  combine  them  into  a 
whole,  and  ascertain  the  way  in  which  they  are  connected 
with  each  other.  In  all  the  other  great  fields  of  inquiry, 
the  necessity  of  generalization  is  universally  admitted, 
and  noble  efforts  are  being  made  to  rise  from  particular 
facts  in  order  to  discover  the  laws  by  which  those  facts 
are  governed.  So  far,  however,  is  this  from  being  the 
usual  course  of  historians,  that  among  them  a  strange 
idea  prevails,  that  their  business  is  merely  to  relate 
events,  which  they  may  occasionally  enliven  by  such 
moral  and  political  reflections  as  seem  likely  to  be 


24  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

useful.  According  to  this  scheme,  any  author  who 
from  indolence  of  thought,  or  from  natural  incapacity, 
is  unfit  to  deal  with  the  highest  branches  of  knowledge, 
has  only  to  pass  some  years  in  reading  a  certain  number 
of  books,  and  then  he  is  qualified  to  be  an  historian; 
he  is  able  to  write  the  history  of  a  great  people,  and  his 
work  becomes  an  authority  on  the  subject  which  it  pro- 
fesses to  treat."  1 

The  characterization  was  in  a  measure  true.  His- 
torians had  either  neglected  the  opportunity,  or  failed 
in  the  effort,  "to  rise  from  particular  facts"  to  "the 
laws  by  which  those  facts  are  governed."  This  step 
Buckle  now  proposed  to  take,  hoping  thereby  "  to  accom- 
plish for  the  history  of  man  something  equivalent,  or  at 
all  events  analogous,"  to  what  had  been  accomplished 
"by  other  inquirers  for  the  different  branches  of  natural 
science."  2 

The  call  to  history  to  become  a  science  had  been 
sounded  before  Buckle,  and  has  been  sounded  many 
times  since.  The  thought  at  first  was  to  apply  to  his- 
tory a  procedure  similar  to  that  applied  in  the  natural 
sciences.  Facts  were  to  be  classified,  not  chronologically 
nor  geographically,  but  logically,  according  to  their 
intrinsic  nature.  A  search  was  to  be  made  for  elements 

1  Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  I,  3. 
'/to*.,  I,  5. 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  25 

common  to  facts  of  a  given  kind  and  for  relations.  The 
results  were  to  be  combined  with  similar  results  derived 
from  other  groups  and  so  on  until  general  laws  could  be 
formulated.  In  this  way  history  was  to  be  elevated  to 
the  dignity  of  a  science.  Early  expectations  have,  how- 
ever, not  been  realized.  History  has  not  actually  be- 
come a  science  in  the  sense  that  physics  and  chemistry 
are  sciences.  The  difficulty  is  not  merely  with  man  as 
"a  free  moral  agent,"  a  condition  often  alleged  as  fatal 
to  any  hope  of  formulating  laws  of  human  action; 
it  is  rather  that  historical  generalization,  following  the 
lines  of  generalization  in  the  natural  sciences,  seems 
unable  to  deal  with  a  vitally  characteristic  factor  in  his- 
torical construction,  namely,  the  question  of  what  is 
important. 

The  realities  of  history  are  unique  realities.  What 
happened  once  can  never  happen  again.  For  any  given 
reality  the  facts  of  importance  are,  then,  not  those 
common  to  a  number  of  realities,  but  rather  those  that 
give  to  the  one  reality  its  uniqueness.  The  facts  of  im- 
portance in  representing  and  explaining  Luther  are  not 
those  common  to  all  leaders  of  religious  revolt,  but 
rather  those  that  make  Luther  unique,  that  distinguish 
him  from  all  other  leaders.  The  facts  of  importance 
in  representing  and  explaining  the  French  Revolution 
are  the  facts  that  make  the  French  Revolution  unique, 


26  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

that  distinguish  it  from  all  other  revolutions.1  It  is 
conceivable  that  human  action  may  come  in  time  to 
be  explained  in  terms  of  general  laws,  but  even  then  the 
reality  and  succession  of  realities  to  be  explained  must 
continue  to  be  described,  if  history  is  to  retain  any  part 
of  its  present  meaning. 

There  is  none  the  less,  as  we  have  seen,  a  scientific 
conception  of  history,  and  history  is  now  rather  generally  . 
called  a  science.  Its  fundamental  idea,  that  of  devel-  .. 
opment,  was  apprehended  by  thinkers  in  ancient  Greece 
and  Rome  and  by  thinkers  in  the  Middle  Ages,  but  it 
remained  for  the  modern  age  really  to  comprehend  and 
to  apply  it  as  a  ruling  idea.  Development  implies 
'  continuity,  and  continuity  implies  unity.  The  ancients 
conceived  neither.  The  Romans,  it  is  true,  furnished 
through  their  world  empire  an  object  lesson  in  world 
oneness,  and  Polybius,  in  the  first  century  B.C.,  was 
inspired  by  that  empire  to  write  a  world  history.  But 
he  missed  essentially  the  significance  of  the  lesson. 
Christianity  emphasized  the  oneness  of  the  world  and 
in  its  conception  of  human  destiny  supplied  material 
for  theories  of  development.  But  history  needed 
naturally  the  impetus  and  ideals  of  modern  science  and 
that  vaster  accumulation  of  historical  data  with  which 
the  modern  world  has  been  favored  to  make  the  concep- 

1  See  American  Historical  Review,  IX,  1 6. 


WHAT   HISTORY   IS  27 

tion  of  development  scientific.  The  actual  transforma- 
tion is  an  achievement  almost  of  our  own  day.  It  has 
been  wrought  within  the  last  seventy-five  years. 

Uncritical  histories  of  the  narrative  and  didactic  types 
are  still  being  produced.  There  are  still  those  who 
demand  that  history  shall  first  of  all  be  literature.  There 
are  others,  the  majority  of  schoolmasters  among  them, 
who  demand  that  history  shall  first  of  all  be  lessons 
in  morals,  or  patriotism,  or  social  service.  There  are 
others,  and  here  must  t>e  included  a  large  part  of  the 
legion  described  as  "  the  general  reading  public,"  who 
demand  of  history  only  that  it  shall  be  interesting.  To 
many  of  these  the  very  idea  of  scientific  history  with 
its  destructive  criticism,  its  denial  of  the  right  of  per- 
w  sonal  bias,  and  its  sober  gray  of  fact,  amounting  in  many 
cases  to  a  mere  balancing  of  probabilities  without  defi- 
nite conclusions,  is  somewhat  repugnant.  Special  stu- 
dents of  the  subject,  however,  as  a  rule  now  conceive 
of  history  primarily  as  scientific  history,  and  scientific 
ideals  influence,  if  they  do  not  altogether  control,  most 
of  the  productive  historical  scholarship  of  our  time. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING  HISTORY 

IN  dealing  with  history  for  school  purposes  the  ques- 
tion of  what  can  be  done  at  various  stages  of  instruction 
naturally  precedes  and  conditions  the  question  of  what 
ought  to  be  done.  The  materials  selected  and  the 
manner  of  dealing  with  them  must  ultimately  be  deter- 
mined by  educational  ends.  But,  unless  it  be  known 
how  wide  or  how  narrow  the  range  of  selection  really  is, 
there  is  danger,  on  the  one  hand,  of  overtaxing  the  abil- 
ities of  pupils,  and  on  the  other  hand,  of  missing  what 
is  best  for  the  promotion  of  educational  ends.  This  is 
apparent  enough,  and  yet  programs  and  textbooks  in 
history  are  so  often  charged  with  the  offense  of  making 
history  unintelligible  to  pupils,  and  therefore  useless  or 
even  harmful,  or,  if  intelligible,  of  making  it  merely 
useless,  that  there  is  reason  to  suspect  either  some  care- 
lessness or  some  lack  of  insight  in  many  preliminary 
surveys  of  the  field.  It  may  be  of  course  that  history 
is  at  best  a  subject  of  doubtful  value,  but  even  this 
supposition  must  wait  upon  a  determination  of  the 
materials  and  treatment  to  be  valued. 

28 


THE    PROBLEM    OF   GRADING   HISTORY  29 

The  difficulty  of  defining  the  possible  range  of  selec- 
tion has  often  been  emphasized.  History,  it  is  said, 
offers  no  elementary  aspects,  no  regular  order  of  pro- 
gression from  the  simple  to  the  less  simple,  no  clear 
principles  of  grading.  In  this  respect  history  appears, 
then,  to  compare  unfavorably  with  some  other  subjects. 
"  In  mathematics,  for  example,"  we  read,  "  what  a  splen- 
did orderly  progression  from  the  simpler  operations  with 
numbers  to  the  more  complex,  from  arithmetic  to  al- 
gebra (involving  the  principles  of  arithmetic),  from 
algebra  to  geometry  (involving  the  principles  of  arith- 
metic and  algebra),  and  from  geometry  out  into  the 
different  subjects  of  higher  mathematics,  mechanics, 
and  physics,  involving  all  these  basic  principles  of  pure 
and  descriptive  algebra.  In  the  languages  again  the 
principle  of  the  blade,  the  ear,  and  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear  is  clearly  marked  out.  From  the  elements  of  the 
grammar  the  student  passes  on  to  the  simpler  texts  of 
the  language,  then  to  the  standard  works  of  literature. 
But  where  and  what  is  the  grammar  of  history  ?  What 
are  the  digits  of  politics  or  the  A  B  C's  of  foreign  rela- 
tions?"1 

The  difficulty  should  not  be  exaggerated.  Efforts  to 
grade  history  have,  perhaps,  on  the  whole  been  less  suc- 

1  Report,  Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the  Middle  States  and 
Maryland,  1906,  p.  17. 


30  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

cessful  than  efforts  to  grade  mathematics  and  the 
languages.  But  this  may  or  may  not  be  due  to  ad- 
vantages inherent  in  mathematics  and  the  languages. 
The  problem  of  grading  mathematics,  in  spite  of  a 
certain  "  splendid  orderly  progression,"  was  not,  after 
all,  solved  in  a  day.  The  passing  from  grammar  to 
"the  simpler  texts  of  the  language"  and  "then  to 
the  standard  works  of  literature,"  however  "  clearly 
marked  out,"  is  not  even  yet  an  entirely  smooth  and 
gentle  ascent. 

That  history  of  some  kind  can  be  presented  at  almost 
any  stage  of  instruction  is  scarcely  in  need  of  argument. 
History,  or  what  passes  for  history,  is  now  actually  being 
taught,  frequently  as  early  as  the  first  grade  of  the  ele- 
mentary school,  sometimes  even  in  the  kindergarten. 
The  problem  of  grading  seems,  therefore,  to  have  been 
solved  at  least  in  part.  That  it  has  been  solved  less 
generally  and  less  completely  for  history  than  for  some 
other  subjects  is,  perhaps,  due  not  so  much  to  difficul- 
ties inherent  in  history  as  to  the  attitude  of  educators 
toward  the  problem.  Much  of  the  discussion  of  history 
as  a  school  subject  has  been  based  upon  preconceived 
ideas  that  fix  at  the  outset  the  materials  and  treatment 
to  be  tested  and  discourage  examination  of  any  other 
materials  or  treatment.  Guidance,  it  is  said,  must  be 
sought  in  the  natural  tastes  and  interests  of  children,  in 


THE    PROBLEM    OF   GRADING   HISTORY  3! 

the  culture-epoch  theory,  or  in  some  other  theory  or 
principle  that  removes  responsibility  for  any  general 
inquiry  into  the  conditions  presented  by   the  field  as 
a  whole. 
The  doctrine  of  natural  tastes  and  interests  has  been 

^pronounced  "pedagogical  bed-rock."1  Strictly  inter- 
preted this  seems  to  imply  that  history  is  to  be  considered 
available  for  school  purposes  so  far  as  it  relates  to  condi- 
tions and  activities  analogous  to  those  which  children 
daily  on  their  own  unobstructed  initiative  either  favor 
with  their  attention  or  create.  An  ideal  history  for 
children,  it  has  been  seriously  suggested,  would  -be  a 

v  history  written  by  a  child.  By  the  same  token  no 
doubt  an  ideal  history  for  boys  would  be  a  history  written 
by  a  boy,  an  ideal  history  for  girls  would  be  a  history 
written  by  a  girl,  and  histories  written  by  college  pro- 
fessors should  be  read  by  college  professors,  a  fate  per- 
haps at  times  deserved. 

The  natural  tastes  and  interests  of  children  can  be 
inferred  from  psychology,  they  can  be  observed  in  oper- 
ation, they  can  be  tested  by  experiment.  The  problem 
of  building  a  program  upon  them  ought,  therefore,  to 
be  relatively  simple,  and  such  a  program  ought  beyond 
question  to  meet  with  the  approval  of  children.  These 
are  important,  and  to  those  who  are  seeking  the  line  of 

lNew  York  Teachers1  Monographs,  Vol.  V,  No.  i,  p.  90. 

f 


32  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

least  resistance,  conclusive  considerations.  But  "his- 
torical mindedness,"  it  should  be  remembered,  is  not 
itself  a  natural  state  and  therefore  not  likely  to  be  a 
product  of  natural  tastes  and  interests,  even  in  manhood. 
It  is  something  that  comes  to  most  of  us,  if  it  comes  at 
all,  through  conscious  effort.  We  do  not  grow  into  it 
simply  by  growing  up ;  we  are  trained  into  it.  A  pro- 
gram based  upon  the  natural  tastes  and  interests  of 
children,  it  should  also  be  remembered,  is  not  neces- 
sarily the  only  kind  of  program  that  is  interesting. 
There  is  a  learning  to  like,  as  well  as  a  learning  to  do, 
by  doing.  There  are  acquired  tastes  and  interests  as 
well  as  natural  tastes  and  interests. 

A  more  adequate  basis  for  a  school  program  in  history 
than  that  supplied  by  the  doctrine  of  natural  tastes  and 
interests  is,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  found  in  the  culture- 
epoch  theory.  According  to  this  theory,  the  individual 
in  his  me'ntal  progress  passes  through  epochs  or  stages 
similar  to  epochs  or  stages  in  the  mental  progress  of  the 
race.  The  individual,  that  is,  in  a  sense  recapitulates 
the  mental  experience  of  the  race.  From  the  point  of 
view  of  the  culture-epoch  theory  history  is,  then,  to  be 
considered  available  for  school  up  to  the  point  reached 
by  the  pupils  in  their  recapitulation  of  the  experience  of 
the  race.  The  conclusion  has  been  happily  phrased  by 
Professor  Laurie.  "  The  childhood  of  history,"  he  says, 


THE    PROBLEM    OF   GRADING   HISTORY  33 

"is  best  for  the  child,  the  boyhood  of  history  for  the 
boy,  the  youthhood  of  history  for  the  youth,  and  the 
manhood  of  history  for  the  man."  l 

The  culture-epoch  theory  as  applied  to  history  pro- 
grams admits  of  two  interpretations.  According  to  one 
interpretation  facts  are  to  be  so  selected  and  arranged 
as  to  keep  children  at  each  step  of  the  way  occupied  with 
stages  of  race  culture  corresponding  to  the  stage  which 
they  have  themselves  attained.  Knowing,  as  advo- 
cates of  this  interpretation  seem  to  know,  that  children 
in  the  first  three  or  four  grades  of  the  elementary  school 
are  primitive  beings,  that  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades 
they  are  mediaeval,  and  that  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  they  are  becoming  modern,  the  program  maker 
has  only  to  provide  primitive  civilization  for  pupils  in 
the  primitive  stage  of  development,  mediaeval  civiliza- 
tion for  pupils  in  the  mediaeval  stage,  and  modern 
civilization  for  pupils  in  the  modern  stage.  Such  a 
grouping  of  facts  does  not,  it  should  be  carefully  ex- 
plained, imply  chronological  continuity  in  the  history 
program.  Usually,  indeed,  chronological  continuity  is 
specifically  repudiated.  In  a  program  recently  pub- 
lished, for  example,  the  work  of  the  second  grade  is 
outlined  as  follows :  "  The  early  Aryans ;  life  in  ancient 
Egypt ;  the  tent  dwellers,  nomadic  life,  period  of  shep- 
D  l  School  Review,  IV,  650. 


34  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

herds,  especially  among  the  Hebrews;  the  early  Phoe- 
nicians; primitive  life  among  modern  Afrikanders, 
primitive  life  in  the  far  north ;  primitive  life  in  Japan, 
the  Philippines,  India,  Hawaii,  etc. ;  primitive  life  among 
the  North  American  Indians ;  primitive  life  of  the  white 
man  in  America."  Even  in  the  work  outlined  by  this 
program  for  the  sixth  grade  the  French  Revolution  and 
Napoleon  precede  the  American  Revolution.1  The 
particular  facts  selected  under  this  interpretation  may 
be  quite  "historical"  so  far  as  they  go,  but  usually  the 
effort  to  keep  them  so  is  slight. 

The  other  interpretation  involves  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent procedure.  It  looks,  not  to  the  general  cultural 
stages  in  the  development  of  the  race,  but  specifically  to 
the  development  of  the  historical  sense.  Assuming  that 
this  unfolds  in  children  after  the  manner  of  its  unfold- 
ing in  the  race,  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  those 
conceptions  of  history  which  came  first  in  the  experience 
of  the  race  should  come  first  also  in  historical  instruc- 
tion, and  that  those  conceptions  which  came  late  in 
the  experience  of  the  race  should  come  late  also  hi 
the  history  program.  The  earliest  manifestations  of  the 
historical  sense  in  the  race  being  expressed  in  myths, 
legends,  and  fables,  it  follows  that  the  introduction  to 
school  history  should  be  through  myths,  legends,  and 

1  Bliss,  History  in  the  Elementary  Schools,  27,  47-48. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING  HISTORY        35 

fables.  As  these  give  way  to  semi-historical  sagas,  and 
these  in  turn  to  more  or  less  critical  narration,  so  must 
the  history  program  change  from  one  to  the  other  on  and 
up  to,  but  not  inclusive  of,  scientific  history,  a  develop- 
ment so  recent  in  the  experience  of  the  race  as  plainly 
to  suggest  the  "  manhood  of  history."  The  stage  indi- 
cated as  proper  for  beginning  instruction  of  this  kind 
ranges  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  fourth  or  fifth  year 
of  the  elementary  school  and  the  rate  of  progress  varies 
considerably.  Some  programs  literally  pass  in  the 
first  four  or  five  years  from  fable  to  saga  and  reach  in 
the  upper  grades  of  the  elementary  school  matter-of- 
fact  history.  Others  are  dominated  throughout  by  the 
spirit  of  romance  and  poetry.  "History,"  says  Profes- 
sor Laurie,  "  cannot  be  reasoned  history  to  a  boy ;  even 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  it  is  only  partially  so,  but  it  can 
always  be  an  epic,  a  drama,  and  a  song."  The  inference 
?s  obvious :  "We  must  teach  history  to  the  young  as  an 
epic,  a  drama,  and  a  song."  At  the  beginning  of  the 
course  outlined  by  Professor  Laurie,  with  boys  of  ten, 
"it  is  a  story  to  be  told,  and  the  wandering  minstrel  of 
old  is  our  model  teacher."  Even  at  the  end,  with  boys 
of  eighteen,  the  historians  especially  to  be  commended 
are  apparently  Shakespeare,  Browning,  and  the  histori- 
cal novelists.1 

1  School  Review,  IV,  656,  660 


36  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

The  significance  of  the  culture-epoch  theory  for 
teachers  of  history  rests  upon  two  assumptions :  (i)  that 
all  peoples  in  their  cultural  progress  follow  a  certain 
uniform  order  of  development  which  can  be  discovered 
and  defined;  and  (2)  that  these  stages  represent  in 
general  a  movement  from  the  simple  to  the  complex. 
If  these  assumptions  are  valid,  it  is  at  once  obvious  that 
the  theory  does  supply  a  far-reaching  principle  for  grad- 
ing historical  facts  according  to  their  degree  of  difficulty. 
Both  assumptions  have,  however,  been  seriously  ques- 
tioned. Professor  Boas  has  pointed  out  that  some 
peoples  "well  advanced  in  the  arts  of  life"  have  never 

.  discovered  pottery,  "one  of  the  essential  steps  in  the 
advance  of  civilization,"  and  that  "the  invention  of 

\  metallurgy,  which  marks  so  important  an  advance  of 
European  civilization,  does  not  appear  associated  with 
'  analogous  levels  of  development  in  other  parts  of  the 
world."  Similar  remarks  are  applicable  to  other  phases 
of  industrial  development.  Again,  advancing  civiliza- 
tion does  not  seem  necessarily  to  be  always  a  movement 
from  the  simple  to  the  complex ;  it  may,  in  some  phases, 
be  a  movement  from  the  complex  to  the  simple.  "It 
is  perhaps  easiest,"  says  Professor  Boas,  "to  make  this 
clear  by  the  example  of  language,  which  in  many  re- 
spects is  one  of  the  most  important  evidences  of  the 
history  of  human  development.  Primitive  languages 


THE    PROBLEM   OF   GRADING   HISTORY  37 

are,  on  the  whole,  complex.  Minute  differences  in  point 
of  view  are  given  expression  by  means  of  grammatical 
forms;  and  the  grammatical  categories  of  Latin,  and 
still  more  so  those  of  modern  English,  seem  crude  when 
compared  to  the  complexity  of  psychological  or  logical 
forms  which  primitive  languages  recognize,  but  which 
in  our  speech  are  disregarded  entirely.  On  the  whole, 
the  development  of  language  seems  to  be  such,  that  the 
nicer  distinctions  are  eliminated,  and  that  it  begins  with 
complex  and  ends  with  simple  forms,  although  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  opposite  tendencies  are  not  by  any 
means  absent."  l 

The  whole  matter  has  been  aptly  summarized  by  Pro- 
fessor Thomas.  " Different  groups,"  he  remarks,  "take 
steps  in  culture  in  a  different  order,  and  the  order  depends 
upon  the  general  environmental  situation,  the  nature  of 
the  crises  arising,  and  the  operation  of  the  attention." 
"This,"  he  continues,  "is  a  sufficient  comment  on  the 
theory,  sometimes  used  in  pedagogy,  that  the  mind  of 
the  child  passes  through  epochs  corresponding  to  epochs 
in  the  culture  of  the  race.  We  have  every  reason  to 
think  that  the  mind  of  the  savage  and  the  mind  of  the 
civilized  are  fundamentally  alike.  There  are,  indeed, 
organic  changes  in  the  brain  of  the  growing  child,  but 
these  are  the  same  in  the  children  of  all  races.  The 

1  Boas,  Mind  of  Primitive  Man,  182,  194. 


38  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

savage  is  not  a  modern  child,  but  one  whose  conscious- 
ness is  not  influenced  by  the  copies  set  in  civilization. 
And  the  white  child  is  not  a  savage,  but  one  whose  mind 
is  not  yet  fully  dominated  by  the  white  type  of  culture."  1 
Another  conception  often  applied  is  that  history  in 
school  should  begin  with  what  is  near  in  time  and  space 
and  proceed  by  gradual  stages  to  what  is  remote.  The 
assumption  here  is  that  what  is  near  is  intelligible,  that 
out  of  it  may  be  formed  an  "apperception  mass"  suffi- 
cient to  assimilate  the  less  near,  that  through  the  result- 
ing accretion  it  becomes  possible  to  assimilate  the  still 
less  near,  and  so  on  to  the  remote.  The  first  step  is 
commonly  a  study  of  the  home  and  its  activities.  This 
is  followed  by  a  study  of  the  school  and  its  activities,  and 
this  in  turn  by  a  study  of  the  local  community  as  a  whole, 
its  geographical  environment,  its  industries,  its  social 
customs.  Attention  is  then  directed,  by  means  of  simple 
stories,  to  past  conditions  and  happenings  in  the  com- 
munity. The  way  is  thus  prepared  for  a  similar  treat- 
ment of  other  communities  and  for  a  consideration  of  the 
relations  of  one  community  to  another.  After  four  or 
five  years  of  this  kind  of  experience  the  historical  sense 
is  usually  considered  sufficiently  developed  to  justify  a 
chronological  treatment  of  such  history  as  may  seem 
desirable.  In  the  earlier  stages  the  method  is  often 

1  Thomas,  Source  Book  for  Social  Origins,  25-26. 


THE    PROBLEM    OF   GRADING   HISTORY  39 

regressive.  The  pupil,  that  is,  begins  with  the  present 
and  works  his  way  backward  into  the  past.  The  plan 
may  be  confined  to  an  introductory  chapter,  as  in 
Powell's  History  of  the  United  States  for  Beginners,  or 
to  a  few  introductory  topics,  as  in  the  work  outlined  for 
the  sixth  grade  by  the  Committee  of  Eight.  It  may  be 
more  extended. 

The  soundness  of  using  the  pupil's  own  immediate 
environment  as  a  point  of  departure  in  the  study  of  his- 
tory is  beyond  dispute.  In  every  lesson  throughout 
the  history  course  there  should  be  a  constant  passing 
from  the  near  to  the  remote,  and,  it  may  be  added,  from 
the  remote  to  the  near.  The  principle  is  fundamental, 
but  it  is  scarcely  a  principle  of  grading  at  all.  The 
degree  of  nearness  or  remoteness  can  afford  no  adequate 
test  of  difficulty.  The  question,  for  example,  of  whether 
Socrates  or  Benjamin  Franklin  is  the  more  suitable  for 
study  by  children  .  is  scarcely  to  be  answered  by  an 
appeal  merely  to  the  years  or  the  miles  that  separate 
Socrates  or  Benjamin  Franklin  from  us. 

The  doctrine  of  natural  tastes  and  interests,  the  culture- 
epoch  theory,  and  the  principle  of  proceeding  from  the 
near  to  the  remote,  as  actually  applied  in  the  construc- 
tion of  history  programs,  have,  it  must  be  admitted,  been 
found  to  "work"  in  the  sense  of  providing  materials 
that  are  intelligible  and  interesting  to  children.  This, 


40  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

in  the  opinion  of  some  advocates,  is  a  sufficient  test  of 
validity.  But,  waiving  all  other  objections,  it  is  clear 
that  the  answers  thus  returned  to  the  question  of  what 
is  possible  for  children  are  at  best  partial  answers 
and  that  such  must  be  the  result  of  applying  any  doctrine, 
theory,  or  principle,  that  limits  at  the  outset  the  range 
of  inquiry.  For  more  general  answers  there  must  be  a 
more  general  exploration  of  the  field. 

The  past  to  be  reconstructed  embraces  three  general 
kinds  of  phenomena:  (i)  physical  human  beings  and 
their  physical  environment;  (2)  human  words  and 
actions;  (3)  human  thoughts,  feelings,  and  resolutions. 
Historical  information,  however  organized  and  however 
presented,  can  be  reduced  to  facts  that  relate  to  one  or 
another  of  these  general  kinds  of  phenomena,  or  to  their 
inter-relations.  There  may  be,  then,  in  the  conditions 
under  which  facts  of  the  types  thus  indicated  are  or  may 
be  apprehended  some  hint  of  the  possible  range  of  selec- 
tion. 

The  conditions  presented  by  facts  of  the  first  type  are 
in  many  cases  such  that  a  direct  appeal  to  the  senses  is 
possible.  The  eye  can  still  rest  upon  a  house  that  George 
Washington  lived  in,  a  hat  that  Napoleon  wore,  the  food 
that  some  Pompeian  was  about  to  partake  of  when  the 
great  calamity  came,  the  very  features  of  an  ancient 
Egyptian  king.  The  ear,  too,  may  have  its  part.  The 


THE   PROBLEM   OF   GRADING   HISTORY  41 

clocks  of  our  grandfathers  are  still  striking  for  us; 
church  bells  heard  in  the  Middle  Ages  are  still  ringing 
for  Europe.  The  sights  and  sounds  of  nature,  the  odors 
of  wood  and  field,  repeat  themselves  from  generation 
to  generation.  Furthermore,  much  of  the  material 
past  lends  itself  readily  to  direct  representation  in 
statues,  casts,  models,  and  pictures,  such  as  are  now 
being  supplied  in  ever  increasing  variety  for  every  coun- 
try within  the  pale  of  general  human  interest. 

The  conditions  presented  by  facts  of  the  second  type 
admit  to  some  extent  of  similar  appeals.  The  actions 
and  spoken  words  of  the  past  are  of  course  never  before 
us  in  quite  the  way  that  material  remains  may  be.  No 
one  can  now  actually  see  or  hear  Julius  Caesar  dictating 
his  Commentaries,  or  Henry  IV  going  to  Canossa,  or 
William  Perm  talking  with  the  Indians.  The  only 
actions  which  can  be  directly  observed  now  are  actions 
which  are  in  progress  now.  But  many  acts  habitually 
performed  in  the  present  resemble  acts  habitually  per- 
formed in  the  past  —  going  to  school,  greeting  guests  at 
a  reception,  saying  mass.  Many  more  can  by  conscious 
effort  be  performed  more  or  less  after  the  manner  of 
former  times  —  kindling  a  fire  with  primitive  apparatus, 
spinning  with  an  antiquated  wheel,  brandishing  a  toma- 
hawk. An  elaborate  illustration  of  this  type  of  recon- 
struction, whatever  the  originals  might  think  of  it,  is 


42  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

afforded  by  the  numerous  characters  that  walk  and  talk 
before  the  footlights  in  the  historical  drama.  Action 
can  also  to  some  extent  be  suggested  by  statues  and 
ordinary  pictures.  It  can  be  fully  represented  in  mov- 
ing pictures.  Nor  is  this  all.  By  the  correlation  of 
moving  pictures  with  the  phonograph  it  is  possible  not 
only  to  represent  action  itself  but  to  reproduce  the  voices 
and  other  sounds  that  accompanied  action. 

The  conditions  presented  by  facts  of  the  third  type 
admit  of  no  such  appeals.  Thoughts  and  feelings  can 
neither  be  painted  in  pictures  nor  caught  by  any  mechan- 
ical contrivance  that  has  yet  been  invented.  They  are 
revealed,  so  far  as  they  are  revealed  at  all,  in  the  "  looks" 
of  men,  in  deeds,  and  in  words.  There  are,  it  is  true, 
mental  states  of  our  own  that  resemble  the  mental 
states  of  men  in  the  past,  and  it  is  to  our  own  mental 
states  that  we  habitually  appeal  in  representing  to  our- 
selves the  mental  states  of  others.  But  even  our  own 
minds  are,  to  most  of  us,  more  or  less  of  a  mystery. 
Who  has  not  despairingly  remarked  after  some  act  that 
seemed  anything  but  complicated,  "I  wonder  why  I 
did  that!"  The  mental  states  of  a  cave  man,  an  In- 
dian, a  pioneer,  a  Clovis,  a  Charlemagne,  a  Napoleon, 
have  the  advantage  of  being  plainly  described  for  us  in 
our  textbooks.  But  even  with  this  advantage  our 
ability  to  understand  them  depends  upon  our  own 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    GRADING   HISTORY  43 

mental  experiences  and  upon  our  ability   to  analyze 
our  own  mental  experiences. 

But,  it  may  be  urged,  most  of  the  facts  of  history  are, 
regardless  of  their  kind,  on  exhibition  in  verbal  descrip- 
tion only.  For  most  of  them  the  conditions  are,  there- 
fore, equalized.  In  the  first  place,  verbal  description 
is  usually  inadequate.  It  rarely  tells  us  all  that  we 
need  to  know  to  reconstruct  either  a  material  object 
no  longer  seen  or  a  past  mental  state.  In  the  second 
place,  words  are  symbols  only,  mere  "  signs  of  psycho- 
logical operations."  The  images  which  they  call  up, 
the  thoughts  and  feelings  which  they  induce,  alike  vary 
with  individual  experience.  There  is  some  force  in 
these  suggestions.  The  elements  with  which  the  mind 
has  to  work  in  constructing  from  verbal  description  its 
images  of  the  vanished  externals  of  life  are,  however, 
still  in  the  domain  of  the  senses.  Is  it  a  building  that  is 
described?  We  have  seen  buildings.  Are  the  dimen- 
sions given  ?  We  have  used  a  foot  rule.  Were  the  walls 
a  dull  red?  We  have  seen  dull  red.  The  details,  so 
far  as  they  go,  can  be  referred  to  memories  of  sensory 
impressions  and  these  can  be  verified,  if  necessary,  by 
fresh  appeals  to  buildings,  a  foot  rule,  and  dull  red.  Is 
it  an  action  that  is  described?  The  appeal  is  still  to 
memories  of  sensory  impressions  and  some  verification 
through  appeals  to  action  itself  is  still  possible.  The 


44  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

elements  with  which  the  mind  has  to  work  in  construct- 
ing from  verbal  description  past  thoughts  and  feelings 
remain  more  elusive  and  in  general  more  dependent 
upon  the  mind's  own  previous  experiences. 

Within  these  general  types  of  facts  there  is,  however,  a 
further  distinction.  The  facts  may  be  either  particular 
or  general.  They  may  relate  in  detail  to  individual 
objects,  individual  persons,  individual  actions,  thoughts, 
or  feelings.  They  may  in  varying  degrees  of  abstrac- 
tion summarize  individual  objects  or  persons.  They 
may  relate  wholly  to  groups  of  objects  or  persons,  to 
collective  acts  and  sentiments,  to  those  habits  and 
usages  which  are  called  institutions,  to  general  causes 
that  act  in  history.  A  slave  we  can  image,  but  what 
was  the  "  Slave  Power"  in  America?  Groans  we  have 
no  doubt  heard,  but  what  is  "  a  groan  from  the  heart  of 
France"?  Opinions  we  have  no  doubt  expressed,  but 
what  is  "public  opinion"?  How  shall  we  represent  to 
ourselves  a  panic,  a  revolution,  the  church,  the  state, 
society  itself  and  the  laws  of  social  action? 

The  simplest  problems  in  dealing  xwith  history  are 
evidently  those  connected  with  forming  conceptions  of 
how  the  world  and  its  activities  looked  in  the  past. 
The  more  difficult  problems  are  those  connected  with 
forming  conceptions  of  past  mental  states.  Particular 
facts,  whatever  their  type,  are  simpler  than  general 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    GRADING   HISTORY  45 

facts  of  the  same  type.  There  is,  moreover,  a  certain 
kind  of  dependence  of  the  higher  upon  the  lower  forms  of 
representation.  External  material  conditions  and  activ- 
ities, to  the  extent  that  they  were  either  cause  or  effect 
of  past  mental  states,  furnish  necessary  clues  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  past  mental  states ;  particular  facts  furnish 
necessary  clues  to  the  interpretation  of  general  facts. 

In  the  field  of  external  conditions  and  activities  any- 
thing that  can  either  be  observed  directly  or  be  so  pre- 
sented as  to  supply  elements  for  definite  imagery  is  ob- 
viously possible  material  for  any  stage  of  instruction. 
Children  in  the  first  grade  of  the  elementary  school  can, 
given  the  proper  kind  of  presentation,  image  primitive 
dwellings,  primitive  furniture,  primitive  tools,  primitive 
weapons,  primitive  men,  and  the  actions  of  primi- 
tive men.  They  can  also,  given  the  same  kind  of  presen- 
tation, image  dwellings,  furniture,  tools,  weapons,  men, 
and  actions  of  men,  hi  any  degree  of  removal  from  prim- 
itive conditions.  The  time  exposure  needed  for  imagery 
increases  of  course  with  the  amount  of  detail  to  be 
imaged.  It  is  in  general  greater  for  the  material  aspects 
of  the  higher  civilization  than  for  the  material  aspects 
of  the  lower  civilization.  But  given  the  tune,  and  given 
the  same  kind  of  presentation,  the  material  aspects  both 
of  the  higher  and  of  the  lower  civilizations  are  within 
the  realm  of  the  possible  for  children. 


46  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

In  the  field  of  thoughts  and  feelings  the  range  of 
possible  selection  is  still  largely  determined  by  the  mode 
of  presentation.  Thoughts  and  feelings  directly  and 
obviously  related  to  external  conditions  and  activities 
that  can  themselves  either  be  observed  directly  or  be  so 
presented  as  to  supply  elements  for  definite  imagery  are 
at  any  stage  of  the  elementary  school  within  the  pupil's 
power  to  interpret.  The  feeling  of  need  for  a  fire  or  of 
food  for  a  dinner,  the  joy  of  accomplishment  in  fishing 
or  hunting,  the  desire  to  visit  a  friend  or  to  shun  an 
enemy,  the  thought  of  the  next  day's  work  or  adventure, 
in  the  presence  of  definite  images  of  the  thing  needed, 
accomplished,  desired,  or  thought  of,  all  have  a  meaning 
for  children  of  six.  It  is  easy,  however,  at  any  stage  of 
instruction  to  claim  too  much  for  the  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings which  pupils  attribute  to  the  past,  and  hence  to 
demand  too  much.  A  pupil  studying,  for  example,  the 
Battle  of  Lexington,  "must,"  we  are  informed,  "com- 
pletely identify  himself  with  the  thought,  passion,  and 
resolution  of  the  time."  1  The  philosopher  who  said  this 
began  to  doubt  it  in  his  next  sentence,  but  the  statement 
may  stand  as  fairly  representative  of  a  kind  of  emphasis 
frequently  met  with  in  discussions  of  history  teaching. 

The  mental  experiences  with  which  children  are  thus 
expected  to  identify  themselves  are  at  the  beginning  of 

lTompkins,  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  171. 


THE    PROBLEM    OF   GRADING   HISTORY  47 

instruction  usually  those  of  primitive  men.  The  sim- 
plicity alleged  for  such  experiences  is,  however,  largely  a 
simplicity  of  conditions  of  presentation.  The  thoughts 
and  feelings  introduced  are  thoughts  and  feelings  directly 
and  obviously  related  to  external  conditions  and  activities 
that  can  themselves  be  presented  concretely.  Highly 
civilized  men  have  thoughts  and  feelings  similarly  related 
to  externals  that  can  themselves  be  presented  concretely. 
Are  these  less  available?  Is  it  easier  to  realize  the  ele- 
mental bodily  sensations  of  a  savage  —  hunger,  thirst, 
cold,  fatigue,  toothache,  headache  —  than  to  realize 
the  elemental  bodily  sensations  of  a  civilized  man?  Is 
it  easier  for  country  children  to  think  the  ordinary 
thoughts  of  a  primitive  farmer  tilling  the  soil,  gathering 
his  crops,  trading  with  his  neighbors,  grumbling  about 
the  weather,  gossiping  before  his  fire,  than  to  think  the 
ordinary  thoughts  of  his  most  advanced  successor  simi- 
larly engaged  ?  Is  it  easier  for  city  children  to  think  the 
ordinary  thoughts  of  some  dweller  hi  ancient  Babylon 
than  to  think  the  ordinary  thoughts  of  some  dweller  in 
modern  New  York  ?  The  answer  is  that  neither  is  suffi- 
ciently easy  to  make  comparisons  decisive.  "Breath- 
ing the  atmosphere  of  departed  days,"  "catching  the 
spirit  of  bygone  times,"  and  "living  the  past"  are,  even 
from  the  point  of  view  of  adults,  in  large  part  empty 
exaggerations.  Applied  in  school  to  attempts  at  recon- 


48  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

struction  of  past  mental  states,  whether  of  primitive  or 
of  highly  developed  human  beings,  such  phrases  are  in 
large  part  suggestive  of  exercises  in  rhetoric  for  teachers 
rather  than  of  exercises  in  history  for  children. 

Particular  facts  relating  to  external  conditions  and 
activities  are  plainly  the  A  B  C's  of  history.  They  are 
the  facts  most  readily  apprehended.  They  can  without 
prohibitive  strain  on  the  intelligence  be  so  treated  as  to 
bring  out  from  the  beginning  differences  in  conditions 
and  thus  be  made  to  illustrate  the  fundamental  histori- 
cal idea  of  change  in  the  world.  They  can  be  so  selected 
as  to  cultivate  from  the  beginning  a  sense  of  proportion. 
There  is  a  temptation  that  is  almost  constant,  in  dealing 
with  history  for  beginners,  to  build  a  past  peopled  only 
by  the  very  fortunate  and  the  very  unfortunate,  a  past 
of  palaces  and  prisons,  of  Fields  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold, 
and  Gallows  Hills.  History  thus  tends  to  become  sen- 
sational and  to  mirror  the  past  much  as  the  "yellow" 
journals  mirror  the  present.  It  is  among  the  merits  of 
the  externals  of  normal  human  life  in  the  past  —  build- 
ings, clothing,  food,  tools,  roads,  bridges,  conveyances, 
weapons,  occupations,  amusements  —  that  they  are,  as 
a  rule,  sufficiently  different  from  those  of  the  present  to 
produce,  without  over-emphasis  upon  what  is  excep- 
tional and  extreme,  that  effect  of  picturesqueness  which 
is  deemed  essential  in  arousing  the  interest  of  pupils. 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    GRADING   HISTORY  49 

This  makes  it  possible  to  look  in  a  serious  way  for  facts 
that  are  really  characteristic  of  former  times  and  to  seek 
in  characteristic  facts  for  the  really  characteristic  ele- 
ments. Even  the  fundamental  historical  idea  of  conti- 
nuity can  to  some  extent  be  illustrated.  All  that  is  nec- 
essary is  to  present  action  following  action,  to  make  the 
story  of  action  a  continuous  story,  to  give  it  a  beginning, 
a  middle,  and  an  ending,  and  to  apply  the  same  principle 
to  a  series  of  stories.  Finally,  external  conditions  and 
activities  are  the  key  to  such  mental  experiences  as  are 
admissible  for  beginners. 

If  the  views  here  presented  are  correct,  the  general 
distinction  between  elementary  history  and  more  ad- 
vanced history  is  fairly  clear.  Elementary  history  is 
made  up  essentially  of  particular  facts.  It  is  history 
presented  in  the  form  of  concrete  examples  —  actual 
remains,  physical  representations  of  actual  remains  and 
of  actions,  verbal  description  rich  in  material  for  imagery. 
Advanced  history  is  history  presented  in  the  form  of 
general  concepts.  Concrete  particulars  relating  to 
actions,  actors,  and  the  material  world  in  which  they 
acted  can  be  introduced  at  least  as  early  as  the  first  year 
of  the  elementary  school;  general  concepts  relating  to 
similar  actions,  similar  actors,  and  a  similar  material 
world  may  be  too  difficult  even  for  the  high  school. 
Concrete  particulars  can  be  so  selected  as  to  convey  to  a 
i 


50  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

first  grade  measurably  correct  impressions  of  the  past; 
general  concepts  may  convey  erroneous  impressions 
even  in  the  high  school.  Concrete  particulars  can  be 
so  treated  as  to  illustrate  to  a  first  grade  the  fundamental 
historical  ideas  of  change  in  the  world  and  of  continuity ; 
general  concepts  may  fail  to  convey  these  ideas  even  in 
the  high  school.  Similarly  past  mental  states  directly 
and  obviously  connected  with  concrete  particulars  can 
be  understood  by  a  first  grade ;  general  concepts  of  simi- 
lar mental  states  may  be  meaningless  even  in  the  high 
school. 

The  problem  of  adapting  history  to  the  schoolroom  is, 
therefore,  essentially  a  problem  in  presentation.  Facts 
presented  concretely  are  elementary;  facts  presented 
abstractly  are  advanced.  For  the  earlier  years  of  the 
elementary  school,  history  should  be  made  up  essentially 
of  concrete  examples.  It  should  be  descriptive  and 
narrative  rather  than  analytical.  Generalizations  when 
introduced  should  be  of  a  kind  that  can  be  readily  re- 
solved into  concrete  particulars.  This  does  not  mean 
that  history  in  the  elementary  school  must  be  a  series 
of  pictures  and  that  children  should  have  no  opportu- 
nity to  reason,  to  generalize,  and  to  apply  their  conclu- 
sions. It  only  means  that  the  data  for  reasoning,  for 
generalization,  and  for  application  must  be  concrete  data. 
History  thus  constructed  and  thus  presented  for  five  or 


THE   PROBLEM   OF   GRADING   HISTORY  51 

six  years  will  lead  naturally  in  the  upper  grades  to  history 
more  largely  made  up  of  collective  or  general  facts. 
With  pupils  of  ten  or  eleven,  concrete  particulars  must 
still  be  paramount;  with  pupils  of  seventeen  or  eight- 
een, concrete  particulars  must  still  be  continued,  but 
discussion  should  and  may  turn  largely  on  generalized 
history. 

One  condition  common  to  all  historical  facts,  and  one 
that  presents  a  somewhat  special  problem,  remains  to  be 
mentioned.  Historical  facts  are  localized  facts.  They 
belong  to  particular  times  and  particular  places.  If  these 
relations  are  suppressed,  the  facts  cease  to  be  historical. 
A  fact  may  be  localized  in  a  general  way :  once  upon  a 
time,  long  ago,  before  we  were  born,  on  an  island  in  the 
sea,  in  a  far-away  country,  in  the  southern  hemisphere. 
It  may  be  localized  in  a  more  particular  way :  Columbus 
sailed  from  Spain  in  1492  ;  from  Palos,  Spain,  in  August, 
1492 ;  from  the  bar  of  Saltes  at  eight  o'clock,  Friday, 
August  3,  1492.  The  degree  of  definiteness  with  which 
a  fact  should  be  localized  depends  upon  a  variety  of 
considerations,  some  of  which  are  quite  arbitrary.  Some- 
times an  event  is  so  famous  that  it  is  a  part  of  common 
information  to  know  when  and  where  it  happened.  The 
event  may  not  be  really  important,  but  that  does  not 
matter.  Romulus  Augustulus  must  have  his  476  A.D. 
Sometimes  historical  characters  must  be  kept  where 


$2  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

they  belong  to  avoid  embarrassment  to  grave  conclu- 
sions. A  St.  Louis  newspaper,  some  years  ago,  by  put- 
ting Thomas  Jefferson  into  the  Convention  of  1787  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  Declaration  of  Independence  into 
the  Constitution.  Just  what  events  shall  be  localized 
very  definitely  and  what  events  shall  be  localized  in  a 
general  way  only  is  a  part  of  the  larger  question  as  to 
what  facts  really  are  significant  in  history.  But  local- 
ization itself  is  something  more  than  an  arbitrary  de- 
vice, it  is  more  than  a  convenience,  it  is  a  part  of  the 
very  conception  "  historical." 

The  time  sense  in  children  at  the  age  of  entering  the 
elementary  school  is  rudimentary.  "Yesterday,"  "last 
week,"  "last  month,"  "last  summer,"  have  a  meaning. 
"One  hundred  years  ago"  has  not.  The  sense  develops 
slowly.  Even  children  of  twelve  or  thirteen  often  meas- 
ure short  periods  of  time  very  vaguely.  From  this  an 
argument  is  sometimes  advanced  that  proves  too  much. 
"Twenty-five  hundred  years  ago"  is,  it  is  urged,  a  useless 
expression  anywhere  in  the  elementary  school.  It  can 
mean  to  children  only  "a  long  time  ago."  But  that  is 
about  what  it  means  to  most  of  us  even  after  we  cease 
to  be  children.  The  argument  against  dating  events  in 
the  distant  past  for  children  is,  therefore,  an  argument 
against  dating  events  in  the  distant  past  for  most  of 
their  elders.  With  children,  as  with  adults,  the  stand- 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    GRADING   HISTORY  53 

ards  for  measuring  the  lapse  of  time  must  be  the  reach  ' 
of  their  own  memories,  and  this  in  either  case  is  a  vague 
standard.  But  by  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven  even  children 
have  counted  enough  of  days  and  experiences  to  realize 
the  difference  between  the  long  ago  to  George  Washing- 
ton and  the  long  ago  to  Pericles  sufficiently  to  justify  the 
use  of  dates. 

The  place  sense  in  children  at  the  age  of  entering  the 
elementary  school  is  also  rudimentary.  "Down  town," 
"across  the  river,"  "up  the  road,"  have  a  meaning. 
"Five  hundred  miles  away"  often  has  not.  Often  all 
distances  of  more  than  a  few  miles  are  alike  only  "a 
long  way  off."  But  children  learn  comparatively  early 
to  read  maps  and,  if  accustomed  from  the  first  to  visualize 
the  material  background  of  history,  are  in  a  position  by 
the  age  of  ten  or  eleven  to  deal  with  the  place  relation 
as  they  deal  with  the  time  relation.  Before  that  age  the 
teacher  must  often  be  content  to  have  facts  localized  only 
in  a  general  way. 

Within  the  limits  that  have  here  been  outlined,  history 
for  school  purposes  can  be  whatever  we  desire.  It  can 
draw  materials  even  from  scientific  history.  It  can 
from  the  beginning  be  of  a  nature  to  support  and  not,  as 
is  so  often  the  case,  to  obstruct  later  historical  study. 
The  facts  selected  can  from  the  beginning  be  in  a  true 
sense  historical,  in  a  true  sense  characteristic  of  places, 


54  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

persons,  periods,  peoples,  and  not  exceptional,  abnormal, 
bizarre.  With  proper  attention  to  concreteness  in 
presentation  the  facts  can  from  the  beginning  be  so  pre- 
sented as  to  exhibit  relations,  cause  and  effect,  conti- 
nuity ;  they  can  from  the  beginning  even  be  so  presented 
as  to  arouse  some  consciousness  of  how  we  know  what  we 
know  about  the  past  and  why  we  do  not  know  more. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES 

i 

THE  aims  of  instruction  determine  for  any  subject 
the  materials  to  be  selected  and  the  manner  of  dealing 
with  them.  The  value  of  instruction  is  measured  by 
the  results  of  instruction.  The  two  should  not  be 
confused.  Worthy  aims  are  easy  to  formulate  and 
the  logic  of  their  realization  is  easy  to  establish.  Worthy 
results  are,  therefore,  easily  accepted  as  foregone  con- 
clusions. In  this  way  any  subject  can  be  proved  val- 
uable. History  alone  can  be  proved  almost  equal  to 
the  task  of  regenerating  the  world.  The  problem  un- 
fortunately is  not  so  simple.  Worthy  aims  may  or  may 
not  be  followed  by  worthy  results. 

The  formulation  of  aims  of  instruction  admits  of  two 
general  modes  of  procedure.  We  may  begin  by  asking 
what  the  various  branches  of  learning  stand  for  as 
branches  of  learning  and  what  each,  within  the  limits  im- 
posed by  the  conditions  of  school  life,  can  do  or  be 
for  the  individual  or  for  society.  We  may  use  the  an- 
swers as  a  basis  for  estimating  the  total  possibilities  of 
instruction.  We  may  then  differentiate,  by  reference 

55 


56  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

to  human  need,  the  more  desirable  possibilities  from  the 
less  desirable,  and  select  as  controlling  aims  the  most 
desirable.  Or  we  may  begin  with  an  examination  of 
the  needs  of  the  individual  or  of  society,  we  may  define 
in  terms  of  these  needs  the  aims  of  instruction,  and  then 
seek  in  the  various  branches  of  learning  the  materials 
and  treatment  appropriate  thereto. 

The  distinction  may  seem  one  without  a  difference. 
In  either  case,  account  must  be  taken  both  of  human 


knowledge  and  of  human  need.  But  there  is  a  real  dif- 
t  ference  between  an  open-minded  search  to  discover  what 
1  a  branch  of  learning  is  good  for  and  a  search  guided  by 
a  fixed  purpose  to  make  that  branch  of  learning  serve 
some  predetermined  good.  The  one  implies  a  certain 
respect  for  the  integrity  of  a  branch  of  learning,  for  its 
materials,  its  methods,  its  conclusions,  its  organization ; 
the  other  implies  a  liberty  of  selection,  of  rearrangement, 
of  revision,  of  transformation,  the  exercise  of  which  may, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  specialists  in  that  branch  of 
learning,  lead  to  acts  suggestive  of  a  species  of  pedagogi- 
cal vandalism.  The  one  mode  of  procedure  does  not 
necessarily  exclude  the  other.  The  results  are  not 
necessarily  two  sets  of  aims  in  conflict  with  each  other. 
What  a  branch  of  learning  is  good  for  may  be  to  serve  a 
predetermined  good.  Usually,  however,  the  two  modes 
of  procedure  do  yield  results  more  or  less  at  variance 


THE  QUESTION   OF   AIMS  AND  VALUES  57 

with  each  other,  and  often  the  predetermined  good 
involves  for  a  branch  of  learning  the  kind  of  reconstruc- 
tion that  has  been  indicated. 

History  has,  perhaps,  to  a  greater  extent  than  any 
other  subject  in  the  school  curriculum  been  shaped  by 
predetermined  good.  The  historians  themselves  set  the 
fashiorL^With  Herodotus,  who  probably  never  asked 
himself  what  history  is  good  for,  the  predetermined  good 
was  the  entertainment  of  his  public.  With  Thucydides 
a  more  distinctive  good  appeared.  He  discovered  that 
history  could  be  useful,  that  it  could  supply  lessons  of 
practical  value  for  statesmen  and  military  commanders. 
For  many  centuries,  as  we  have  seen,  historians  fol- 
lowed, consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  examples  set 
by  Herodotus  and  Thucydides.  They  selected  facts 
either  because  they  promised  to  be  interesting  or  because 
they  promised  to  be  useful.  But  each  age  has  its  own 
special  interests  and  problems.  Each  age  has  its  own 
special  questions.  History  as  a  form  of  entertainment 
or  as  a  collection  of  practical  lessons  naturally  changes, 
therefore,  with  the  age  which  it  is  called  upon  to  satisfy. 
It  has  for  this  reason  been  declared  one  of  the  most  ephem- 
eral of  all  forms  of  literature.  The  history  of  the  world 
must,  it  is  said,  be  written  anew  in  each  generation. 
Even  scientific  history  reflects  the  special  interests  and 
J  problems  of  the  age  in  which  it  is  written. 


58  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

V 

It  is  entirely  natural  and  proper  that  the  educator 
should  ask  his  own  questions.  It  is  entirely  natural  and 
proper  that  his  interest  should  be  in  the  uses  of  a  subject 
rather  than  in  the  subject  itself.  The  subordination  of 
history  to  the  uses  of  history  calls  for  special  comment 
only  because  the  degree  of  subordination  appears  to  be 
exceptional. 

For  most  subjects  the  aims  of  instruction,  however 
determined,  agree  at  least  in  a  reco^dtion_oi_the. .prin- 
ciple  that  what  is  taught  as  truth  in  the  schoolroom 
should  be  found  true  also  in  the  wojrld  beyond  the  school- 
room.  History  is  one  of  the  exceptions.)  Historical 
truth,  if  taken  seriously,  suggests  historical  science,  and 
the  road  to  historical  science  is,  for  many  educators, 
barred  at  the  outset  by  the  culture-epoch  theory  or  some  f 
other  theory.  Aims  for  instruction  may,  therefore,  be 
set  up  without  much  regard  to  the  question  of  what 
history  really  is,  for,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  first 
chapter,  history  that  is  not  scientific  may  be  any  repre- 
sentation or  misrepresentation  that  has  for  its  subject 
the  past.  The  same  theories  are,  to  be  sure,  applicable 
to  other  subjects,  and  are,  in  some  cases,  so  applied  as  to 
bar  hi  the  same  way  the  road  to  what  expert  opinion  now 
holds  to  be  true.  In  most  cases  they  are  not  so  ap- 
plied. If,  for  example,  those  who  accept  the  theory  that 
the  child  must  begin  where  the  race  began  should  under- 


THE   QUESTION   OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  59 

take  to  teach  beginners  primitive  arithmetic,  or  primitive 
geography,  or  primitive  spelling,  the  plan  would  at  once 
be  pronounced  absurd.  Why  it  should  be  less  absurd 
for  history  is  not  altogether  clear.  It  might  be  argued 
on  general  principles  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  way 
to  future  progress  in  the  study  should  not  be  im- 
peded by  unnecessary  misconceptions  and  by  erroneous 
habits,  indulged  because  the  race  once  had  them.  It 
might  be  urged  that  it  is  bad  economy  for  pupils  to 
learn  hi  the  early  stages  of  instruction  a  kind  of  history 
that  must  be  unlearned  later  when  realities  begin  to 
press  for  explanation  and  action.  To  many,  however, 
it  seems  a  sufficient  answer  that  the  passing  need  of  the 
educational  moment  is  paramount,  and  that  children, 
after  all,  outgrow  their  early  history  lessons  much  as 
they  outgrow  their  Santa  Claus. 

An  enumeration  of  the  various  aims  actually  proposed 
for  historical  instruction  may  seem  at  first  a  denial  of 
any  large  or  exceptional  freedom  in  dealing  with  history. 
What  are  the  aims  commonly  proposed?  To  discipline 
the  memory,  the  imagination,  the  judgment;  to  teach 
the  nature  of  historical  evidence  and  to  fix  the  habit  of 
weighing  historical  evidence ;  to  give  training  in  the  use 
of  books ;  to  furnish  entertainment ;  to  set  up  for  con- 
scious imitation  ideals  of  conduct,  of  patriotism,  of 
social  service;  to  inculcate  practical  knowledge  that 


60  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

can  be  turned  to  account  in  the  daily  concerns  of  life; 
rto  illuminate  other  studies,  especially  geography  and 
literature;  to  cultivate  a  discriminating  taste  for  his- 
torical reading;  to  enrich  the  humanity  of  the  pupil,  V 
enlarge  his  vision,  incline  him  to  charitable  views  of  his 
neighbors,  give  him  a  love  for  truth,  make  him,  in  gen- 
eral, an  intelligent,  well-disposed  citizen  of  the  world  as 
it  is  by  making  him  a  citizen  of  the  ages. 

Several  of  these  aims  appear  to  be  specifically  related 
to  scientific  history.  Reasonably  interpreted  all  of 
them  might  conceivably  point  to  scientific  history.  But 
when  we  turn  from  bare  enumeration  to  current  dis- 
cussion of  these  various  aims  the  situation  becomes  at 
least  confused.  "  In  support  of  virtue  and  in  rebuke  of 
vice,"  it  is  said,  "the  lessons  of  history  are  absolutely 
independent  of  time.  Freed  from  chronology,  the  near 
and  the  remote  may  become  equally  potent  in  the  life 
of  the  child."  *  This  is  very  interesting,  but  is  it  his- 
tory at  all  ?  Can  history  in  any  sense  be  taught  without 
clear  distinctions  between  past  and  present?  "We 
must  discriminate,"  it  is  urged,  "between  historic  and 
poetic  truth;  between  history  and  poetry  or  fiction." 
But,  "  as  to  the  names  of  the  characters  selected  to  typify 
and  illustrate"  the  truth  of  history,  and,  "as  to  the 
literal  accuracy  of  the  incidents  that  may  be  associated 

1  Educational  Review,  IX,  470. 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS   AND   VALUES  6l 

with  these  characters,  it  matters  little."  1  We  must 
teach,  it  is  said,  the  nature  and  value  of  historical  evi- 
dence. We  must  also,  it  appears,  carefully  exclude 
historical  criticism  because  children  cannot  understand 
it  and  because  it  is,  after  all,  the  spirit  of  the  past  that 
is  to  be  sought  rather  than  its  bald  facts.  Besides,  criti- 
cism may  easily  spoil  the  moral  value  of  historical  anec- 
dotes and  interfere  with  the  appreciation  of  literature. 
Such  contradictions  and  inconsistencies  could  scarcely 
arise  in  discussions  of  a  subject  with  any  rights  which 
pedagogy  is  bound  to  respect.  There  is,  it  is  true, 
frequent  complaint  that  the  educator  has  not  taken 
full  advantage  of  his  freedom.  Pedagogical  principles 
are,  it  is  said,  "  greatly  vitiated  by  the  desire  to 
preserve  chronological  continuity  and  to  treat  history 
as  a  unity,"  2  by  the  desire,  that  is,  to  present  history 
in  school  with  some  regard  for  modern  conceptions  of 
history.  But,  if  the  freedom  itself  did  not  exist,  edu- 
cators would  scarcely  be  arguing  for  the  suppression  of 
a  lingering  desire  to  keep  historical  instruction  historical. 
Again,  some  of  the  aims  that  have  been  enumerated 
are  so  general  as  to  be  applicable,  not  only  to  any  kind 
of  history,  but  to  any  kind  of  study.  History  may 
afford  exercise  for  the  memory,  but  so  too  may  any  other 

1  Gordy  and  Twitchell,  Pathfinder  in  American  History,  Part  I,  6. 
*  Journal  of  Pedagogy,  XIX,  266. 


62  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

study  that  requires  memorizing.  Indeed,  history,  as 
often  taught  in  the  United  States,  may  afford  less  of  this 
kind  of  exercise  than  some  other  subjects.  So  much  has 
been  said  in  our  time  about  mere  memorizing  in  his- 
tory that  some  teachers  feel  the  need  of  apologizing  for 
any  evidence  in  their  classes  of  such  old  staples  as  reigns 
of  sovereigns  and  presidential  administrations.  With 
these  have  largely  disappeared  also  exact  memories  of 
other  "mere  facts."  Possibly  greater  emphasis  upon 
the  discipline  of  memory  as  an  aim  in  the  teaching  of 
history  is  desirable,  but  the  aim  cannot  be  said  to  be 
peculiar  to  history.  Nor  can  the  exercise  of  the  imagi- 
nation be  held  hi  any  more  special  sense  an  aim  peculiar 
to  history.  To  put  one's  self  in  the  place  of  a  person 
who  lived  a  thousand  years  ago,  or  even  a  hundred,  or 
fifty  years  ago,  to  call  the  past  to  life  even  in  its  most 
commonplace  aspects,  to  experience  even  a  slight  sense 
of  reality  in  reading  history,  is  work  for  the  imagination. 
But  so  also  is  the  attempt  to  put  reality  into  the  content 
of  numerous  other  subjects.  Entertainment,  inspira- 
tion, ideals  of  life  and  conduct,  may  no  doubt  with  profit 
be  sought  in  history,  but  they  may  also  with  profit  be 
sought  in  other  subjects,  and,  indeed,  if  history  is  taken 
at  all  seriously,  with  even  greater  profit.  This  is  ad- 
mitted, at  least  tacitly,  by  those  who  fill  the  history 
program  with  myth,  romance,  and  poetry.  It  is  some- 


THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  63 

times  openly  conceded  by  advocates  of  more  serious 
history.  "We  no  longer  go  to  history,"  writes  M. 
Seignobos,  "for  lessons  in  morals,  nor  for  good  examples 
of  conduct,  nor  yet  for  dramatic  nor  picturesque  scenes. 
We  understand  that  for  all  these  purposes  legend  would 
be  preferable  to  history,  for  it  presents  a  chain  of  causes 
and  effects  more  in  accordance  with  our  ideas  of  justice, 
more  perfect  and  heroic  characters,  finer  and  more 
affecting  scenes."  l 

The  importance  of  history  is,  of  course,  not  to  be 
discounted  merely  because  it  shares  with  other  subjects 
certain  desirable  aims.  The  place  of  history  in  the  cur- 

^^~  -      — "— "• 

riculum  should,  however,  be  made  dflffiadSP*  primarily ! 
upon  aims  which  can  either  be  realized  in  no  other  way 
than  through  historical  instruction,  or  which  can  be 
realized  through  historical  instruction  in  a  higher  degree 
than  through  any  other  kind  of  instruction.  The  pur-  < 
suit  of  aims  of  this  special  character  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  promote  at  the  same  time  other  and  more 
general  aims,  but  the  latter  should  be  regarded  as  inci- 
dental, and  not  as  equally  controlling,  if  there  is  to  be 
any  distinctive  argument  for  history.  The  fact  that  this 
condition,  with  its  plain  implication  of  a  distinctive 
conception  of  history,  has  not,  in  general,  been  clearly 
grasped  may  furnish  occasion  for  discounting  the  impor- 

1  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History,  331. 


64  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

tance  of  history.  Indeed,  the  indiscriminate  listing  of  all 
the  claims  that  can  be  made  for  all  conceptions  of  his- 
tory, so  common  in  educational  discussions  and,  to  care- 
less readers,  so  suggestive  of  proof  that  history  is  good  for 
almost  everything,  may  raise  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful 
readers  a  suspicion  that  history  is  good  for  nothing  at  all. 
A  distinctive  argument  for  history  implies  distinctive 
aims,  and  distinctive  aims  imply  a  distinctive  conception 
of  history.  Some  educational  critics  are  sufficiently 
aware  that  distinctive  amis  have  not  been  formulated; 
'  they  do  not  appear  to  see  that,  for  history  as  they  usually 
conceive  it,  no  such  amis  can  be  formulated.  A  subject 
that  is  called  upon  so  generally  to  be  different  things 
for  different  purposes  —  now  a  truthful  record  and 
explanation  of  past  conditions  and  events,  now  purely 
imaginative  literature,  now  applied  sociology,  now  prac- 
tical ethics  —  can  scarcely  be  expected  to  have  distinc- 
tive, or  even  consistent,  controlling  aims.  Even  such 
aims  as  may  properly  claim  to  be  peculiar  to  history  - 
a  certain  kind  of  discipline  for  the  judgment,  an  under- 
standing of  the  nature  and  value  of  historical  evidence, 
a  taste  for  historical  reading  —  naturally  lose  much  of 
their  force  when  thus  proclaimed  merely  as  features  of 
a  shifting  program  that  may  take  account  of  them  one 
moment  and  eliminate  them  the  next. 

Indefiniteness    and    inconsistency    in    discussions    of 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  65 

aims  naturally  have  their  counterpart  in  discussions  of 
values.  The  relation  between  aims  and  values  is  logi- 
cally so  intimate  that,  as  already  suggested,  results 
desired  may  easily  come  to  be  viewed  as  results  actually 
obtained.  This  step  is  taken  so  generally  in  educational 
discussions  of  history  that  the  difference  betwejCiffche 
treatment  of  aims  and  the  treatment  of  values  is  recraced 
practically  to  a  difference  in  phraseology.  One  writer 
announces  as  an  aim  of  historical  instruction  the  main- 
ing  of  the  judgment.  Another  announces  as  a  valiie  of 
historical  instruction  the  training  of  the  judgment.  The 
second  may  have  in  mind  observed  results ;  usually  he  is 
expressing  only  a  more  or  less  logical  conviction  that  histor- 
ical instruction  ought  to  train  the  judgment.  For  a  list  of 
the  values  commonly  attributed  to  history  it  is  sufficient, 
therefore,  to  refer  to  the  list  of  aims  already  set  forth. 

The  value  of  historical  instruction  has,  however, 
been  questioned  both  on  the  ground  that  it  does,  and  on 
the  ground  that  it  does  not,  lead  to  tangible  results.  A 
critic,  some  years  ago,  after  observing  the  interest  mani- 
fested by  a  certain  group  of  children  in  their  history 
lessons,  openly  deplored  the  condition.  "You  are  spoil- 
ing those  children  for  life  in  the  present,"  he  said,  "by 
making  them  think  so  much  of  the  past."  It  was  essen- 
tially this  idea  that  possessed  Nietzsche  when,  forty  years 
ago,  he  set  forth  in  an  essay  the  good  and  evil  —  chiefly 


66  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

the  evil  —  of  historical  study.  Animal  life,  according 
to  Nietzsche,  is  unhistorical.  It  knows  neither  yester- 
day nor  to-day.  There  are  no  representations  of  past 
conditions  to  interfere  either  with  its  freedom  or  with 
its  pleasures.  There  is  nothing  to  conceal.  All  is  en- 
tirely in  and  of  the  immediate  present.  All  is,  there- 
fore, just  what  it  appears  to  be,  all  is  honorable.  Hu- 
man life  is  restricted,  bent,  and  twisted  by  the  ever 
increasing  burden  of  the  past.  Children,  like  animals, 
are  happy  until  they  begin  to  understand  the  signifi- 
cance of  "it  was."  The  condition  of  their  happiness 
later  is  to  forget  that  anything  was.  He  who  cannot 
forget  can  never  know  what  happiness  is  and,  still  worse, 
can  never  do  anything  to  make  others  happy.  The 
historical  and  unhistorical  states  of  mind  are  both 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  an  individual,  a  people,  or  a 
culture,  but  there  is  a  kind  of  historical  sense  that  im- 
pairs, and  at  last  destroys,  what  is  really  life,  whether 
the  life  of  an  individual,  a  people,  or  a  culture.  It  is 
utterly  wrong  to  be  ungrateful  to  the  past,  blind  to 
experience,  deaf  to  example,  to  exist  as  a  tiny  living  eddy 
in  a  dead  sea  of  night  and  oblivion,  and  yet  no  artist 
can  paint  his  picture,  no  general  can  win  his  victory, 
no  nation  can  attain  its  freedom,  without  lapsing  for  the 
moment  into  an  utterly  unhistorical  state  of  mind. 
Luther,  according  to  Nietzsche,  once  expressed  the 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  67 

opinion  that  the  world  itself  had  come  into  existence  in 
a  moment  of  forgetfulness,  for  if  God  had  thought  of 
"Schwere  Geschiitz,"  he  would  not  have  created  the 
world.  The  historical  state  of  mind  is  opposed  to  origi- 
nality of  character.  It  is  at  best  for  strong  personalities. 
Under  its  influence  weak  personalities  lose  their  plastic 
force  and  are  obliterated.  They  suffer  from  it  as  from 
a  disease.  All  of  us  suffer.  One  of  the  great  maladies 
of  our  time  is  historitis.1 

Similar  sentiments  have  been  expressed  more  recently. 
They  form  a  natural  creed  for  futurists  of  divers  per- 
suasions, past  and  present.  "My  heart  beats  for  Italy," 
one  of  the  apostles  of  futurism  is  reported  to  have  said 
in  an  interview  hi  1910.  "Our  national  life  is  strangled 
by  the  grip  of  the  dead  hand.  We  are  not  allowed  to 
move  forward  according  to  the  modern  necessities  of  life 
because  the  way  is  blocked  by  the  old  monuments,  the 
old  statues,  the  crumbling  old  ruins,  and  the  romantic 
old  sentiments  which  encumber  our  people."  2 

School  instruction  in  history  may  no  doubt  tend  at 
times  to  promote  absorption  in  and  by  the  past  to  a  de- 
gree that  is  undesirable,  may  tend  to  inspire  a  devotion 
that  is  excessive,  may  actually  cultivate  to  some  extent 

1  Vom  Nutzeq  und  NachtheU  der  Historic  fur  das  Leben,  Nietzsche's 
Werke,  II,  103-208.  See  especially  pp.  108,  no,  in,  113,  132,  148, 
and  202. 

8  New  York  Times,  December  25, 1910. 


68  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

that  "exaggerated  respect  for  past  ages"  which  Buckle 
pronounced  the  most  harmful  of  all  ways  of  distorting 
truth.1  The  general  practice  in  most  countries, -at  least 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  instruction,  is  to  idealize  the  past, 
especially  the  national  past,  to  invest  it  with  the  glamour 
of  a  golden  age,  to  impress  the  legend  that  "there  were 
giants  in  those  days."  Such  a  procedure  may  at  times 
invite  comparison  between  the  past  and  the  present  so 
unfavorable  to  the  latter  as  to  make  the  outlook  upon 
it  one  of  hopeless  pessimism  rather  than  of  helpful 
patriotism.  It  may  at  other  times  invite  imitation  of 
giants  of  old  to  a  degree  highly  inexpedient  in  the 
present.  There  are,  however,  to-day  numerous  counter- 
acting tendencies.  We  are  reminded  so  often  "of  our 
immense  superiority  over  our  comparatively  ignorant 
forefathers,"  2  that  our  age  appears  on  the  whole  to  be 
suffering  not  so  much  from  "exaggerated  respect  for 
past  ages"  as  from  "exaggerated  respect"  for  itself. 
Indeed,  in  the  opinion  of  a  modern  poet,  the  past  has 
already  been  consigned  to  oblivion. 

"The  old  times  are  dead  and  gone  and  rotten ; 
The  old  thoughts  shall  never  more  be  thought ; 
The  old  faiths  have  failed  and  are  forgotten, 
The  old  strifes  are  done,  the  fight  is  fought."  * 

1  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  I,  96. 

1  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  The  Wonderful  Century,  i. 

*  Sir  Lewis  Morris,  quoted  by  Wallace,  p.  x. 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS   AND  VALUES  69 

The  other  ground  on  which  the  value  of  school  instruc- 
tion in  history  has  been  questioned  is  that  the  results 
desired  are  realized  in  too  slight  a  degree  to  be  valuable. 
It  is  admitted  that  the  instruction,  especially  in  some 
European  countries,  yields  a  certain  amount  of  fairly 
definite  information:  But  what  kind  of  training  does  the 
pupil  receive?  What  does  he  do,  what  can  he  do,  with 
the  information? 

The  process  of  making  up  our  minds  about  the  char- 
acter and  acts  of  men  in  the  past  prepares,  it  is  said,  in 
a  special  way  for  the  process  of  making  up  our  minds 
about  the  character  and  acts  of  men  in  the  present. 
"He  who  has  learnt  to  understand  the  true  character 
and  tendencies  of  many  succeeding  ages,"  says  Lecky, 
"is  not  likely  to  go  far  wrong  in  estimating  his  own."  * 
To  this  it  may  be  objected  that  school  judgments  are 
either  ready-made  judgments  of  the  teacher  or  the 
textbook,  which  give  the  pupil  no  training  in  judging 
for  himself,  or,  if  independent,  are  usually  based  upon 
data  from  which  the  disturbing  factors  that  make  our 
problem  in  judging  the  character  and  acts  of  men  in 
the  present  are  accommodatingly  absent.  To  most 
persons  of  average  education  a  judgment  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  is  simple  and  sure  because  they  know  so  little 
about  him,  while  a  judgment  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  i» 

1  Lecky,  Political  Value  of  History,  21. 


7O  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

difficult  and  uncertain  because  they  know  so  much 
about  him.  Ordinary  school  history  scarcely  supplies 
data  sufficient  to  exercise  the  judgment  in  the  way  called 
for  by  data  relating  to  the  present.  Even  for  those  who 
have  "learnt  to  understand  the  true  character  and  tend- 
encies of  many  succeeding  ages"  the  evidence  is  not 
altogether  conclusive.  It  is  notorious  that  expert 
historians  differed  almost  as  widely  as  laymen  in  esti- 
mating "the  true  character  and  tendencies"  of  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1912. 

Historical  knowledge  is,  it  is  said,  practical  knowl- 
edge; it  is  "philosophy  teaching  by  example";  it  is 
"the  lamp  of  experience"  pointing  the  way  to  action  in 
the  present.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  one  of  the 
most  familiar  of  all  claims  for  the  value  of  historical 
instruction.  One  kind  of  objection  to  it  was  set  forth 
by  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  well-known  essay  on  Educa- 
tion. Spencer  found  "the  historic  information  com- 
monly given"  in  his  day  "almost  valueless  for  pur- 
poses of  guidance."  Most  of  the  facts  contained,  not 
only  in  "school  histories,"  but  even  in  "the  more  elab- 
orate works  written  for  adults,"  seemed  to  him  "  facts 
from  which  no  conclusions  can  be  drawn  —  unorganiz- 
able  facts;  and  therefore  facts  which  can  be  of  no 
service  in  establishing  principles  of  conduct,  which  is 
the  chief  use  of  facts.  Read  them,  if  you  like,  for 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  71 

amusement ;  but  do  not  flatter  yourself  they  are  in- 
structive." 1  There  is  another  kind  of  objection.  "The 
conditions  under  which  human  actions  are  performed 
are,"  it  is  said,  "rarely  sufficiently  similar  at  two 
different  moments  for  the  'lessons  of  history'  to  be 
directly  applicable."  2 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  furnish  illustrations 
of  this  questioning  attitude  in  the  treatment  of  other 
claims  for  the  educational  value  of  history.  The 
challenge  sometimes  extends  so  far  as  ,to  leave  his- 
tory an  essentially  useless  subject.  One  of  the  last 
places  to  look  for  skepticism  of  a  pronounced  kind 
would  be,  perhaps,  a  school  history.  Yet  a  present- 
day  English  author  has  actually  accomplished  the  re- 
markable feat  of  writing  an  excellent  school  history 
without  convincing  himself  that  the  subject  treated 
is  really  worthy  of  serious  study.  "For  English  his- 
tory," he  remarks  in  the  preface,  "as  part  of  a  school 
curriculum  or  as  a  means  of  education  I  have  no  regard 
at  all."  3 

The  discussion  of  aims  and  values  in  the  teaching  of 
history  is  largely  speculative.  It  is  frequently  based 
upon  data  furnished  by  mere  assertion.  This  is  perhaps 

1  Spencer,  Education,  A.  L.  Burt  Edition,  56,  59. 

2  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History,  319. 
1  Fletcher,  Introductory  History  of  England. 


72  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

inevitable.  But  some  of  the  confusion  at  least  is  avoid- 
able. History  made  over  for  one  purpose  becomes  one 
kind  of  history ;  history  made  over  for  a  conflicting 
purpose  becomes  another  kind  of  history.  The  value  of 
historical  instruction,  whatever  that  value  may  be, 
depends  upon  the  kind  of  history.  Educational  discus- 
sion ought  at  least  to  recognize  the  difference  in  kind 
and  not  confuse  the  fruits  of  one  with  the  fruits  of  the 
other.  "  Of  thorns  men  do  not  gather  figs,  nor  of  a 
bramble  bush  gather  they  grapes."  One  aim  or  set  of 
aims  may  lead  to  simple,  uncritical  history.  So  be  it. 
Let  us  then  define  aims  and  values  in  terms  of  that  type 
and  not  claim  for  it  the  virtues  of  critical,  more  highly 
organized  history.  Another  aim  or  set  of  aims  may 
lead  to  critical,  more  highly  organized  history.  So  be 
it.  Let  us  then  define  aims  and  values  in  terms  of  that 
type  and  not  claim  for  it  the  virtues  of  mere  story- telling 
history. 

The  question  of  aims  and  values  in  the  teaching  of 
uncritical  history  opens  a  field  so  vague  and  so  changing 
that  summary  statements  inevitably  lead  to  confusion. 
Each  must  define  the  varying  possibilities  as  they 
particularly  appeal  to  his  own  sense  of  what  is  best.  In 
the  interest  of  clearness  he  should,  however,  recognize 
that  he  is  dealing,  not  with  history,  but  with  kinds  of 
history. 


THE   QUESTION   OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  73 

The  question  of  aims  and  values  in  the  teaching  of 
critical,  carefully  organized  history,  history  that  may 
properly  be  called  scientific,  lends  itself  more  easily  to 
general  treatment.  The  assumption  here  is  that  there 
is  to  be  a  real  understanding  of  the  past.  If  the  past  is 
not  understood,  the  past  can  have  no  possible  bearing 
on  the  present,  and  it  is  idle  to  talk  of  values  at  all. 
This  is  not  to  deny  that  representations  of  the  past, 
even  when  incorrect,  may  have  value.  But  to  speak  of 
that  is  at  once  to  shift  the  ground  to  uncritical  history. 
If  the  history  that  expert  opinion  now  holds  to  be  true 
is  to  have  any  value  for  school  purposes,  the  history 
taught  in  school  must,  so  far  as  it  goes,  be  in  harmony 
with  expert  opinion.  This  is  to  apply  to  history  a  prin- 
ciple already  applied  to  other  subjects.  Arithmetic, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  aims  to  be  arithmetic  that  may  claim 
kinship  with  the  conceptions  of  modern  mathematicians ; 
geography,  so  far  as  it  goes,  aims  to  be  geography 
that  may  claim  kinship  with  the  conceptions  of  modern 
geographers.  On  the  same  principle  history,  so  far  as 
it  goes,  should  aim  to  be  history  that  may  claim  kinship 
with  the  conceptions  of  modern  historians. 

School  instruction  will  inevitably  lag  behind  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth.  "  In  the  field  of  history,"  says  Dr. 
Jameson,  "  the  advancement  of  learning  may  be  likened 
to  the  advance  of  an  army.  The  workers  in  organized 


74  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

institutions  of  research  must  go  before  like  pickets  or 
scouting  parties  making  a  reconnaissance.  Then,  after 
some  interval,  comes  the  light  cavalry  of  makers  of  doc- 
toral dissertations,  then,  the  heavy  artillery  of  writers 
of  maturer  monographs,  both  of  them  heavily  encum- 
bered with  ammunition  trains  of  bibliography  and 
footnotes.  Then  comes  the  multitudinous  infantry  of 
readers  and  college  students  and  school  children,  and 
finally,  like  sutlers  and  contractors  hovering  in  the  rear, 
the  horde  of  those  that  make  textbooks.  It  may  be 
twenty  years  before  new  facts  discovered,  or  the  elimi- 
nation of  ancient  errors,  find  place  in  the  historical  books 
prepared  for  the  general  reader."  l  If  school  history 
definitely  aimed  to  be  nearer  the  "  heavy  artillery,"  it 
might  be  less  than  twenty  years  behind.  At  all  events, 
school  history  may  definitely  aim  to  be  as  near  the 
"heavy  artillery"  as  possible.  Conceived  in  this 
spirit,  history,  while  still  a  vast  and  varying  field,  as- 
sumes a  form  sufficiently  distinctive  to  suggest  for  his- 
torical instruction  distinctive,  controlling  aims  and 
distinctive  values. 

,  History  of  the  scientific  type  is  dominated,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  the  idea  of  development.  From  this  point 
of  view  nothing  either  was  or  is ;  everything  either  was 
or  is  in  a  continuous  process  of  becoming.  Here  then  is 
1  History  Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  36. 


THE   QUESTION   OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES 

a  conception  that  renders  history  not  only  unique 
but  indispensable,  and  makes  clear  at  once  the  most 
fundamental  and  the  most  comprehensive  aim  that 
can  be  formulated  for  historical  instruction,  namely, 
to  make  the  world  intelligible.  History  is  of  course  not 
everything.  Natural  science  deals  with  the  material 
world;  literature  deals  with  the  world  of  forms  and 
ideas;  other  branches  of  instruction  deal  with  other 
special  worlds.  History  for  general  purposes  is  a 
branch  coordinate  with  these,  revealing  the  social  and 
political  world.  But  natural  science,  literature,  and  the 
rest  are  themselves  forms  of  development  and  as  such 
not  intelligible  apart  from  their  history.  So  generally 
is  this  recognized  that  specialists  in  every  department 
of  the  vast  domain  of  human  knowledge  now  view  their 
fields  historically.  History  has  itself  a  history  essen- 
tial to  an  understanding  of  present  conceptions  of  his- 
tory. 

The  world  to  be  made  intelligible  through  school  in- 
struction in  history  is  the  general  social  and  political 
world.  The  more  special  forms  of  development  enter 
only  as  they  affect  that  world  in  general.  The  mode  of 
procedure  is  obviously  to  exhibit  successive  societies  in 
action,  to  convey  by  means  of  concrete  examples  defi- 
nite impressions  of  human  beings,  living  together,  com- 
manding one  another,  serving  one  another,  reasoning 


76  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

with  one  another,  going  to  war  together,  making  peace, 
organizing  a  church,  constructing  a  government,  de- 
manding higher  wages,  protesting  against  laws,  obeying 
or  defying  social  conventions,  seeking  amusement  - 
impressions,  that  is,  of  what  society  has  been  and  is, 
how  society  works,  and  what  the  causes  and  conse- 
quences of  social  action  are.  Such  may  properly  be  the 
controlling  aim  of  historical  instruction,  for  it  meets  a 
fundamental  human  need  and  meets  it  in  a  way  that 
only  historical  instruction  can  meet  it. 

The  demand  thus  made  upon  history  may  seem  slight 
in  comparison  with  the  imposing  list  of  other  aims 
usually  enumerated.  In  reality  it  is  a  demand  that 
taxes  the  resources  of  history  to  the  utmost  and  finds 
them  not  entirely  adequate.  It  is  also  to  be  observed 
that  historical  instruction,  aiming  primarily  to  make 
the  social  world  intelligible  in  a  way  unthinkable  apart 
from  history,  involves  attendant  circumstances  and 
consequences,  important,  not  only  in  relation  to  the  main 
purpose,  but  in  relation  to  other  purposes. 

In  the  first  place,  the  facts  must  be  historical,  and 
must  be  recognized  by  the  pupil  as  historical.  This 
implies  some  consciousness  of  historical  evidence  and 
requires  the  introduction  of  exercises  to  develop  that 
consciousness. 
I  In  the  second  place,  differences  in  peoples,  customs, 


THE   QUESTION   OF  AIMS   AND  VALUES 

and  institutions  must  be  emphasized.  History  is  occu- 
pied fundamentally  with  differences.  If  the  present 
were  not  different  from  the  past,  there  could  be  no  his- 
tory. The  conception  of  our  own  interests,  problems, 
and  standards  of  judgment  as  different  from  those  of  the 
past  is  a  necessary  step  toward  understanding  our  own 
interests,  problems,  and  standards.  In  taking  this  step 
the  mind  acquires  at  the  same  time  the  larger  vision  that 
should  dispel  provincialism  and  may  affect  conduct. 
}\  In  the  third  place,  the  idea  of  change  must  be  empha- 
sized. Development  is  change,  and  a  changing  social 
world  can  be  made  intelligible  only  by  reference  to  ante- 
cedent changes.  It  is,  perhaps,  here  that  history  makes 
its  most  luminous  contribution  and  reaches  its  deepest 
significance,  for  it  is  here  that  the  modern  conception  of 
progress  comes  into  view.  The  idea  of  change  itself  is  so 
simple  and  so  constantly  borne  in  upon  us  through  the 
most  familiar  experiences  of  life  that  it  may  seem '  quite 
unnecessary  formally  to  refer  for  illustration  to  history. 
Yet  change  is  often  dimly  perceived  even  by  those  who 
have  studied  some  history.  The  notion  that  we  run,  or 
should  run,  "  the  same  course  that  our  fathers  have  run" 
persists  in  spite  of  ever-accumulating  evidence  to  the 
contrary.  There  are  serious  statesmen  who  measure 
the  United  States  of  1915  by  the  standards  of  1789. 
History  itself,  as  conceived  by  many  of  the  older  histo- 


78  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

rians,  encouraged  this  view.  The  older  historians  were 
conscious  of  change,  but  many  of  them  regarded  change 
as  recurring  change.  It  was  on  the  assumption  that 
human  affairs  followed,  as  it  were,  in  cycles  or  circuits, 
tracks  which  had  been  followed  before,  that  history  was 
believed  to  have  practical  value  for  life.  There  are  still 
those  who  believe  that  history  repeats  itself,  or  at  least 
that  the  general  aim  of  school  instruction  should  be  to 
make  history  repeat  itself.  Development,  as  set  forth 
by  modern  historians,  renders  such  views  no  longer  ten- 
able and  puts  in  their  place  the  far  more  inspiring  view 
of  progress  widening  indefinitely  with  "  the  process  of 
the  suns."  The  immediate  effect  upon  the  pupil  of  feel- 
ing that  he  is  living  in  the  midst  of  progress  is  to  give  him 
a  better  appreciation  of  the  present  and  of  the  larger 
opportunity  that  awaits  him  in  the  future.  The  full 
import  of  this  conception  is  only  beginning  to  be  felt. 
If  history  in  tracing  social  development  can  make  clear 
the  nature  of  social  progress,  may  progress  not  be  taken 
in  hand  consciously  and  consciously  assisted?  That 
may  in  time  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  ultimate  and 
most  valuable  result  of  historical  instruction.1 

It  may  be  objected  that  history  designed  primarily  to 
make  the  social  world  intelligible  is  fatally  defective  for 
school  purposes  in  that  it  appeals  too  much  to  the  intel- 
1  Cf.  Robinson,  The  New  History,  251-252. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES       79 

lect  and  too  little  to  the  emotions  of  childhood  and  youth. 
But  this  is  to  read  social  progress  abstractly.  The  con- 
crete reality  is  not  wanting  in  examples  of  heroism,  of 
patience  in  suffering,  of  the  victory  of  truth  over  error, 
of  loving  service  and  noble  ideals,  of  righteousness  exalt- 
ing a  nation.  It  may  be  objected  that  there  are  positive 
dangers  in  seeking  to  make  the  social  world  really  intelli- 
gible to  children.  The  habit  of  judging  different  ages  by 
standards  peculiar  to  those  ages  may  dull  the  sense  of 
present  moral  values.  It  may  lead  to  a  toleration  of 
customs  which  ought  not  in  the  light  of  our  day  to  be 
tolerated.  It  may  chill  that  pride  of  country  which  in  the 
name  of  patriotism  so  generally  and  so  deeply  concerns 
historical  instruction  and  leave  the  pupil  with  a  general 
feeling  that  it  is  the  most  stupid  thing  in  the  world  to 
pronounce  one  custom  or  institution  or  country  either 
better  or  worse  than  another.  The-  idea  of  ceaseless 
change  and  of  indefinite  progress  may  create  merely  the 
impression  that  whatever  is  in  state,  church,  school, 
family,  or  occupation  is  temporary,  that  what  is  valu- 
able to-day  may  not  be  valuable  to-morrow,  and  that 
there  are  no  permanent  values. 

Some  of  these  possibilities  are  not  so  bad  as  they  may 
appear,  unless  truth  itself  is  bad,  and  the  very  idea  of 
social  progress  carries  its  own  antidote  for  others.  It 
may  be  desirable,  for  example,  that  pride  of  country 


8o  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

should,  now  and  then,  be  chilled.  When  a  textbook 
writer  gravely  announces  that  it  is  his  purpose  to  make 
children  see  why  Americans  are  "  the  bravest  men  and  the 
most  successful  of  inventors,  explorers,  authors,  and 
scientists,"  there  is  need  of  a  slightly  lower  temperature. 
Doubtless  some  pride  of  country  is  desirable,  and  there 
is  no  country  that  does  not  inspire  it.  Foreigners  used 
to  think  that  our  country  inspired  it  to  an  undue  degree. 
De  Tocqueville,  observing  conditions  in  the  thirties, 
found  that  for  fifty  years  there  had  been  impressed  upon 
Americans  the  idea  that  they  were  "  the  only  religious, 
enlightened,  free  people."  "They  have,"  he  wrote,  "an 
immense  opinion  of  themselves  and  they  are  not  far  from 
believing  that  they  form  a  species  apart  from  the  human 
race." :  Another  Frenchman  thought  it  must  be  a 
standing  source  of  mortification  to  Americans  "  not  to  be 
able  to  pretend  that  an  American  discovered  America."5 
Bryce,  in  the  eighties,  found  the  old  self-assertion  only 
"faintly  noticeable"  and  felt  the  change  as  a  compliment 
to  Americans.3  Since  then  the  "  muck-raker  "  has  made 
us  perhaps  too  conscious  of  our  faults,  and  our  pride  has 
been  further  sobered  in  other  ways.  But  this  condition, 
instead  of  being  an  argument,  as  is  sometimes  urged,  for 

1  Quoted  by  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States  from  the  Compromise 
of  1850,  m,  82. 

*  Ibid.,  Ill,  83.  s  Ibid.,  II,  610. 


THE   QUESTION   OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  8 1 

idealizing  the  past,  is  rather  an  argument  for  treating  the 
past  as  soberly  as  we  treat  the  present,  if  we  would  avoid 
the  unhistorical  conclusion  of  degeneracy.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  neither  the  American  past  nor  the  American 
present,  in  any  attempt  at  true  characterization,  can  leave 
us  cold.  As  for  the  standards  of  other  ages  and  other 
countries,  he  is  a  poor  patriot,  whatever  his  training  or 
lack  of  training  in  history  and  whatever  his  flag,  who 
cannot  to  some  extent  sympathize  with  Max  O'Rell's 
Englishman,  who,  on  returning  from  France  to  his  native 
soil,  thanks  God  that  he  was  born  an  Englishman,  or  with 
his  Frenchman,  who,  on  returning  to  his  native  soil,  ex- 
claims, "How  proud  a  man  is  to  call  himself  a  French- 
man after  he  has  looked  at  England !" 

The  facts  selected  to  illustrate  social  progress  and  to 
make  our  own  social  world  intelligible  will  naturally  be 
those  most  immediately  related  to  our  own  special  inter- 
ests, problems,  and  standards  of  judgment.  School  time 
is  precious  and  it  has  become  almost  an  educational 
dogma  that  school  history  must  exclude  everything  in 
the  past  which  has  not  left  traces  sufficiently  enduring 
to  be  found  in  the  life  of  the  present.  There  are,  how- 
ever, difficulties  in  applying  the  principle.  When  a 
condition  in  ancient  Greece  is  approached  because  it 
seems  to  throw  light  on  a  condition  in  modern  America, 
we  are  at  once  confronted  by  the  necessity  of  under- 
c 


82  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

standing  the  Greeks  to  understand  the  condition  in 
Greece.  This  introduces  a  series  of  facts  some  of  which 
are  likely  to  fall  under  suspicion  on  the  ground  of  not 
being  themselves  directly  related  to  the  present.  Nor 
is  this  all.  The  same  facts  are  almost  sure  to  create  a 
need  for  other  explanations,  which  must,  perhaps,  be 
sought  outside  of  Greece  itself.  It  was  once  a  fashion  to 
begin  a  history  of  one's  own  time  with  an  account  of  the 
creation  of  the  world,  and  there  is  still  something  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  the  principle.  Our  main  emphasis  in 
America  will  naturally  be  upon  modern  history.  But 
we  cannot  escape,  if  we  really  hope  to  make  American 
society  intelligible,  the  necessity  of  presenting  "the 
principal  transformations  of  humanity." 

Whatever  the  aim,  or  aims,  set  up  for  historical  instruc- 
tion, the  teacher  must,  most  of  the  time,  press  onward 
consciously  and  definitely  toward  the  goal.  But  the 
pursuit  even  of  a  great  purpose  should  not  be  conceived 
in  a  narrow  spirit.  There  ought  still  to  be  Tbyways  in 
which  it  is  safe,  now  and  then,  to  forget  the  everlasting 
pedagogical  formula,  "Turn  everything  to  use,"  leisure 
to  wander  in  quiet  places  praying  only  the  prayer  for 
truth,  dreaming  only  of  glories  that  have  passed  away 
from  earth,  feeling  only  the  inspiration  of  vanished 
greatness;  or,  if  faith  in  utility  must  go  all  the  way, 
rising  to  the  faith  of  Browning's  Grammarian : 


THE   QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES  83 

"Earn  the  means  first  —  God  surely  will  contrive 

Use  for  our  earning. 
Others  mistrust  and  say,  '  But  time  escapes  ! 

Live  now  or  never  ! ' 
He  said,  'What's  time?  Leave  now  for  dogs  and  apes! 

Man  has  Forever.'" 

At  the  worst  a  little  superfluous  knowledge  is  not  a 
dangerous  thing,  and  even  if  it  were,  the  wisest  of  edu- 
cators is  unable  to  draw  sharply  the  line  between  what 
is  superfluous  and  what  is  not.  There  is  danger,  in  this 
age  of  passion  for  immediate  practical  results,  of  for- 
getting that  larger  future  which,  in  spite  of  utilitarian 
educational  philosophers,  is  ever  being  shaped  in  the 
Grammarian's  spirit. 

"Oh,  if  we  draw  a  circle  premature, 

Heedless  of  far  gain, 
Greedy  for  quick  returns  of  profit,  sure 
Bad  is  our  bargain !  " 


CHAPTER  IV 


HISTORY  in  some  form  has  probably  been  a  part  of 
instruction  since  the  earliest  dawning  of  historical  con- 
sciousness. There  were  peoples  even  in  remote  an- 
tiquity to  whom  the  handing  down  of  traditions  from  the 
old  to  the  young  appealed  as  a  national  duty.  The  ex- 
ample set  by  the  ancient  Hebrews  is  familiar  and  perhaps 
exceptional.  Yet  the  spirit  in  which  Joshua  commanded 
twelve  stones  to.be  gathered  as  a  memorial  of  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Jordan  and  dictated  the  answer  to  be  given 
when  children  in  time  to  come  should  ask  their  fathers, 
"What  mean  ye  by  these  stones  ?  "  1  has  probably  to  some 
extent  found  expression  among  all  peoples. 

With  the  emergence  of  history  as  a  distinct  branch  of 
learning  the  step  to  more  formal  instruction  in  history 
might,  therefore,  have  seemed  natural  and  simple.  But 
history  early  assumed  a  form  that  seemed  to  limit  its 
utility.  It  became  a  professional  subject.  Princes 
studied  it  as  a  part  of  their  preparation  for  the  art  of 
ruling ;  captains  studied  it  as  a  part  of  their  preparation 

1  Joshua  IV. 
84 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL   CURRICULUM  IN   EUROPE      85 

for  the  art  of  war ;  men  of  letters  studied  it  as  a  part  of 
their  preparation  for  the  art  of  writing.  Occupied,  as  it 
was,  chiefly  with  affairs  in  which  ordinary  people  had  no 
directing  voice,  there  could  be  little  occasion  for  popular 
instruction  in  the  subject,  even  assuming  that  ordinary 
people  could  understand  it.  There  might  be  occasion 
for  consciously  discouraging  historical  instruction  as  a 
possible  breeder  of  discontent  and  of  disrespect  for  es- 
tablished authority.  It  was  partly  on  this  ground  that 
the  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages  almost  completely  neg- 
lected history.  It  is  partly  on  this  ground  that  some 
rulers  hi  church  and  state  and  some  educators  still  object 
to  certain  kinds  of  history. 

The  general  character  of  the  school  curriculum  from 
the  closing  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  until  well  into 
the  nineteenth  century  interposed  another  obstacle. 
Throughout  this  period  the  dominant  type  of  school  was 
the  secondary  school,  which  meant,  in  most  cases,  the 
Latin  school.  With  Latin  the  language  of  learning  there 
was  much  to  be  done  before  the  pupil  could  really  begin 
to  study  anything  except  the  language  itself.  Latin 
alone  made  a  crowded  curriculum.  With  Greek  added 
the  outlook  for  non-linguistic  studies  was  not  improved. 
A  certain  amount  of  historical  information  radiated  of 
course  from  the  classical  authors.  It  was,  indeed,  as  an 
adjunct  of  these  that  history  made  its  first  important 


86  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

advance  in  the  schools.  As  such  it  was  used,  however, 
to  illustrate  linguistic  forms  and  the  beauties  of  litera- 
ture rather  than  to  give  a  knowledge  of  facts.  Teachers 
themselves  lacked  the  "historic  sense,"  and  it  rarely 
occurred  to  them  to  view  even  literature  historically. 
When  schools  for  the  people  began  to  be  common  there 
was  again  the  obstacle  of  a  crowded  curriculum.  With 
defective  systems  of  organization,  defective  apparatus, 
and  defective  methods  of  teaching,  it  was  as  much  as 
the  schoolmaster  could  do  to  manage  the  three  R's. 

Thus  it  happened  that  while  history  was  for  centuries 
almost  uniformly  commended  by  men  of  the  highest 
intelligence  it  was  at  the  same  time  almost  uniformly 
excluded  from  schemes  for  general  school  instruction. 
The  commendation  was  for  the  few.  For  the  many, 
history,  if  not  considered  unnecessary  or  unsuitable,  was 
at  least  considered  unavailable  for  lack  of  time. 

There  were  advocates  of  school  instruction  in  history 
as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century.  Jacob  Wimpheling, 
the  humanist,  in  1505  published  a  textbook  on  German 
history,  Luther  in  1524  argued  that  history  should  be 
taught,  and  the  English  Privy  Council  in  1582  actually 
ordered  a  manual  of  English  history  to  be  read  in  the 
schools.  All  of  these  had  in  view  the  secondary  and  not 
the  elementary  school.  In  the  next  century  Comenius 
proposed  that  history  should  have  a  place  in  every 


HISTORY  IN   THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM   IN   EUROPE      87 

grade  of  instruction  from  the  "  school  of  the  mother's 
knee"  up  through  the  university  and  the  "College  of 
Light,"  an  institution  for  research  which  was  to  follow 
the  university.  For  the  vernacular  school  of  six  classes, 
designed  to  enroll  all  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and 
twelve,  as  set  forth  in  the  Great  Didactic,  completed  in 
1632,  there  was  to  be  a  general  survey  of  world  history. 
For  the  Latin  school  of  six  classes,  designed  to  enroll  boys 
of  special  promise  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  eight- 
een, the  materials  were  to  be  grouped  as  follows :  Class  I, 
Epitome  of  Bible  history ;  Class  II,  Natural  history ; 
Class  III,  History  of  arts  and  inventions ;  Class  IV,  His- 
tory of  morals ;  Class  V,  History  of  the  customs  of  differ- 
ent peoples ;  Class  VI,  General  history  of  the  world,  and 
especially  of  the  pupil's  own  country.1 

Comenius  here  clearly  foreshadowed  at  least  two  im- 
portant features  of  the  most  advanced  modern  practice. 
He  made  provision  for  history  in  every  year  of  the  school 
course,  and  he  included  morals,  customs,  arts,  and  in- 
ventions, in  a  word,  what  the  Germans  call  Kulturge- 
schichte,  as  well  as  politics  and  war. 

Ideas  equally  modern  hi  spirit  appeared  in  a  work  by 
Christian  Weise,  published  in  1676,  under  the  title,  Der 
Kluge  Hofmeister.  In  this  work  Weise  set  forth  the 
history  of  Germany,  Spain,  France,  England,  Denmark, 

1  Comenii  Magna  Didaclica,  Leipsic,  1894,  pp.  213,  222. 


88  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Sweden,  Poland,  Italy,  Turkey,  and  Switzerland,  with  an 
argument  for  emphasis  upon  modern  rather  than  upon 
ancient  history  similar  to  arguments  heard  in  our  day, 
and  with  suggestions  on  methods  of  presentation  that 
may  still  be  read  with  profit.1 

It  was,  however,  rare  as  yet  to  find  history  actually 
taught.  A  few  secondary  schools  in  Germany  had  in- 
troduced the  subject/  The  schools  of  the  Oratorians 
in  France  had  a  well-defined  course  including  Bible 
history  and  Greek,  Roman,  and  French  history.  More 
remarkable  still  they  had  special  teachers  of  history.2 
But  the  total  number  of  schools  in  which  history  was 
taught  before  the  eighteenth  century  barely  sufficed  to 
make  the  subject  a  respectable  exception  in  courses  of 
study. 

The  eighteenth  century  as  the  century  first  of  "En- 
lightenment," then  of  the  "Natural  Man,"  and  finally 
of  revolution,  developed  much  in  the  trend  of  its  think- 
ing that  either  tacitly  ignored,  or  consciously  defied,  his- 
tory. Its  appeals  to  reason,  its  doctrines  of  sovereignty, 
of  the  social  contract,  and  of  the  rights  of  man  were  a 
priori  and  unhistorical.  Its  grand  climax  of  revolution, 
the  French  Republic  of  the  Year  I,  was  in  appearance 
the  culmination  of  an  organized  movement  to  abolish 

1  P&dagogisches  Magazin,  Heft  35,  Langensalza,  1893,  pp.  1-27. 
lCompayr6,  Doctrines  de  V Education  en  France,  I,  218. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE      89 

history.  Yet  Rousseau  himself  prescribed  history  for 
his  epoch-making  Emile,  though  not  until  Emile  had 
attained  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  then  not  the  traditional 
kind  of  history.  Francke  was  an  advocate  of  the  sub- 
ject and  gave  it  a  place  in  the  Latin  school,  in  the  Padago- 
gium,  and  in  the  school  for  orphans,  founded  by  him  at 
Halle  just  before  1700.  The  subjects  embraced  Old 
Testament  history,  New  Testament  history,  the  Roman 
emperors,  the  political  history  of  various  peoples,  the 
history  of  the  church,  and  the  history  of  learning.  His 
plans  for  historical  instruction  did  not  include  the  ele- 
mentary school. 

r 

Rollin  praised  history  in  his  Traite  des  Etudes,  com- 
pleted in  1731,  and  then  wrote  a  work  on  ancient  history 
that  was  read  and  enjoyed  by  generation  after  generation 
almost  down  to  our  own.  "History  when  well  taught," 
declared  Rollin,  "is  a  school  of  morals  for  all  men.  It 
describes  vice,  it  unmasks  false  virtue,  it  exposes  errors 
and  popular  prejudices;  it  dissipates  the  enchantment 
of  riches  and  of  all  that  vain  pomp  which  dazzles  men ; 
it  shows  by  a  thousand  examples  more  persuasive  than 
all  arguments  that  there  is  nothing  great  and  laudable 
except  honor  and  uprightness."  It  should,  then,  be  a 
part  of  the  earliest  instruction  of  children.  It  is  equally 
fitted  to  amuse  and  to  edify ;  it  develops  the  intellect 
and  the  heart,  it  stores  the  memory  with  facts  both  pleas- 


90  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

ing  and  useful;  it  gives  a  taste  for  study.1  Similar 
sentiments  were  expressed  by  Barclay,  a  Scotchman,  in 
his  Treatise  on  Education,  published  in  1763. 

Frederick  the  Great  was  a  friend  and  promoter  of  his- 
torical instruction.  The  famous  General  Regulations 
of  1763,  providing  for  compulsory  education  between  the 
ages  of  five  and  fourteen,  enumerated  history  as  one  of 
the  subjects  to  be  taught.  The  instructions  of  1765  to 
the  Berlin  Ritter  Akademie  contained  the  declaration 
that  it  was  "  no  longer  possible  for  a  young  man  who  is  to 
live  in  the  great  world  not  to  know  the  events  which  be- 
long to  the  chain  of  European  history."  The  Elector 
of  Saxony  believed  in  history,  and  by  a  school  ordinance 
in  1773  decreed  that  children  in  the  elementary  school 
should  be  taught  "the  simplest,  the  most  necessary,  and 
the  most  useful  facts  of  world  history,  and  especially  of 
the  history  of  Saxony."  Basedow's  Philanthropinum  at 
Dessau,  founded  in  1774,  under  the  inspiration  of  Rous- 
seau's Emile,  had  history  in  the  program  of  studies.  In 
the  same  year  a  new  educational  law  in  Austria  made 
history  one  of  the  subjects  for  secondary  schools.  By 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  teaching  of  history 
had  become  fairly  general  in  German  secondary  schools 
and  had  been  introduced  in  a  considerable  number  of 
elementary  schools.  Its  position  was,  however,  rather 

1  Traitt  des  Etudes,  Paris,  1884,  II,  162-164. 


HISTORY   IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN   EUROPE      9 1 

commonly  that  of  an  extra  or  option  without  regular 
hours  in  the  schedule  of  studies. 

In  France,  before  the  Revolution,  history  and  geog- 
raphy were  taught  in  connection  with  grammar  and  liter- 
ature and  bore  especially  upon  the  authors  read.  The 
Revolution  transferred  emphasis  to  itself.  Of  the  three 
stages  of  historical  instruction  proposed  by  the  decree  of 
1793,  the  first  two  stages  were  given  up  exclusively  to 
the  Revolution,  and  the  third,  while  occupied  with  a 
general  survey  of  different  peoples,  looked  especially  to 
perfecting  through  this  survey  French  art  and  industry.1 
But  this  plan  did  not  become  effective.  In  England 
history  was  scarcely  taught  at  all.  Rugby  for  a  time 
offered  to  its  upper  classes  a  course  consisting  of  Bible 
history  and  Roman  and  English  history,  but  not  as  a 
regular  part  of  the  curriculum. 

The  usual  eighteenth  century  conception  of  history  for 
schools  was  a  general  survey  of  the  world,  especially  the 
ancient  world.  Bible  history  was  taught  for  its  ethical 
and  religious  significance.  Other  ancient  history,  with 
special  attention  to  characters  and  events  made  famous 
by  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  was  taught  partly  for  its 
ethical  value,  partly  for  the  illumination  of  literature, 
and  partly  for  general  cultural  ends.  So  little  was 
thought  of  history  as  a  possible  aid  to  an  understanding 

1  Pizard,  L'Histoire  dans  I' Enseignement  Primaire,  n. 


Q2  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

of  the  present  that  the  pupil's  own  country  might  easily 
be  neglected.  Rollin,  for  example,  qualified  his  commen- 
dation of  history  by  remarking  that  he  was  not  speaking 
of  the  history  of  France.  To  that  field  he  had  himself 
devoted  little  attention.  "I  am  ashamed,"  he  confesses, 
"  to  be  in  a  way  a  stranger  in  my  own  country,  after  hav- 
ing surveyed  so  many  others."  French  history,  he  be- 
lieved, ought  to  be  studied,  but  it  seemed  to  him  a  natu- 
ral order  to  begin  with  ancient  history,  and  there  was  not 
time  in  school  for  both.  As  a  matter  of  fact  some  na- 
tional history  was  taught  in  France,  but  the  instruction 
was  ineffective.  Rolland,  twenty-five  years  after  the 
death  of  Rollin,  complained  that  young  Frenchmen  knew 
the  names  of  all  the  consuls  of  Rome,  but  were  often  igno- 
rant of  the  names  of  the  kings  of  France ;  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  deeds  of  Themistocles  and  of  Scipio, 
but  were  ignorant  of  those  of  Duguesclin,  of  Bayard, 
of  Turenne,  and  of  Sully.  Rolland  proposed  to  remedy 
this  defect.  He  urged  careful  attention,  not  only  to  na- 
tional history,  but  to  local  history.1  In  Germany  school 
regulations  and  the  writings  of  educators  in  general  laid 
stress  upon  national  history,  but  here,  as  in  France, 
ancient  history  seems  to  have  held  the  chief  place.  At 
the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  German  could 

1  Kilian,   Tableau  Historique  de  VInstruction  Secondaire  en  France, 
Paris,  1841,  p.  56-57. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE     93 

still  ask,  "Shall  we  go  on  knowing  more  about  the 
history  of  Greece  and  of  Rome  than  about  the  history 
of  our  own  country?"  l 

The  facts  selected  for  school  history  in  the  eighteenth 
century  were  largely  political  and  military,  and  there  was 
a  tendency  to  reduce  them  to  bare  names  and  dates. 
German  programs  and  textbooks,  however,  began,  es- 
pecially toward  the  close  of  the  century,  to  include  an 
appreciable  amount  of  Kulturgeschichte.  Both  materials 
and  treatment  felt  to  some  extent  the  influence  of  Rous- 
seau. "All  our  histories,"  said  Rousseau,  "begin 
where  they  ought  to  end."  They  are  concerned  with 
revolutions  and  catastrophies,  with  people  in  their  decay. 
"We  know,  then,  only  the  bad;  the  good  hardly  forms 
an  epoch.  It  is  only  the  wicked  who  attain  celebrity; 
the  good  are  forgotten  or  turned  to  ridicule ;  and  this  is 
how  history,  like  philosophy,  ever  calumniates  the  human 
race.  Moreover,  the  facts  described  in  history  are  very 
far  from  being  the  exact  portraiture  of  facts  as  they  really 
happen ;  they  change  form  in  the  head  of  the  historian ; 
they  are  molded  in  accordance  with  his  interest  and 
take  the  tint  of  his  prejudices."  Historians  who  judge 
are  not  the  historians  for  a  young  man.  "Facts !  facts ! 
Supply  him  with  these  and  let  him  form  his  own  judg- 
ments. It  is  in  this  way  that  he  learns  to  know  men." 

1  Reim,  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts ,  186. 


94  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

The  true  model  is  Thucydides,  but,  unfortunately,  "  he 
is  always  speaking  of  wars."  What  is  needed  is  a  treat- 
ment, in  the  spirit  and  with  the  accuracy  of  Thucydides, 
of  facts  neglected  by  historians,  especially  facts  relating 
to  individual  men,  not  "at  certain  chosen  moments  and 
on  dress  parade/'  but  in  their  ordinary,  everyday  person. 
Above  all,  facts  must  be  presented  concretely.1  Some  of 
these  ideas  Basedow  and  his  fellow  Philanthropinists 
undertook  to  apply.  Basedow  emphasized  particularly 
the  need  of  correct  visualization  and  introduced  carefully 
prepared  pictures  of  historic  places  and  incidents.  SaLz- 
mann  suggested  learning  the  history  of  one's  own  neigh- 
borhood before  proceeding  to  the  history  of  the  Assyrians 
and  Persians,  Greeks  and  Romans.  Bahrdt  protested 
against  that  dry  skeleton  of  universal  history  which 
•MJtlf  fiDs  the  memory  with  dates  and  names  without 
stimulating  the  mind  to  think  or  the  heart  to  feel,  and 
demanded  details  for  dramatic,  lifelike  presentation. 
But  history  for  schools  remained  for  the  most  part  a  mere 
outline  of  political  and  military  events.2 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  school  instruction  in  history 
was  advocated  by  practically  aD  important  writers  on 
education.  The  most  notable  exceptions  were  Herbert 

*  j&wfe,  Paynes  TnuMbtio*,  Appletcn,  1911,  p. 
•For  Mrtorr  iMrMpg  m  Germany  m  the  age  o* 
Jdfe»  Gafaadt,  Em  &***(  MT  CttMttte  4t$ 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN   EUROPE      95 

Spencer  and  Alexander  Bain.  Spencer's  opinion  has 
already  been  cited.1  In  the  opinion  of  Bain,  "  the  fact 
that  history  presents  no  difficulty  to  minds  of  ordinary 
education  and  experience,  and  is,  moreover,  an  interest- 
ing form  of  literature,  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  not  spend- 
ing much  time  upon  it  in  the  curriculum  of  school  or 
college.  Where  there  is  any  doubt,  we  may  settle  the 
matter  by  leaving  it  out."  2  Teachers  and  school  admin- 
istrators sometimes  objected  to  history.  When,  for 
example,  in  the -course  of  a  general  inquiry  concerning  the 
state  of  elementary  instruction  in  France,  in  1863,  in- 
spectors were  asked  to  specify  subjects  that  should  be 
obligatory,  fourteen  excluded  history.  "Instruction  in 
history,"  said  one,  "is  impossible.  It  is  as  much  as  an 
ordinary  teacher  can  do  to  teach  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering."  "Instruction  in  history,"  said  another,  "is 
useless.  Those  who  know  how  to  read  can  read  history 
for  themselves."  "Instruction  in  history,"  said  another, 
"  is  injurious.  It  is  likely  to  inspire  children  with  a  foolish 
vanity,  prejudicial  alike  to  individual  happiness  and  to 
the  repose  of  society."  3  But  such  objections  were  com- 
paratively rare.  Both  theorists  and  practitioners,  while 
frequently  criticising  the  kind  of  history  that  was  taught, 

1  See  above,  p.  70. 

1  Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  286-287. 

*  Pizard,  L'Bistoire  dans  V Enseignement  Primaire,  26. 


96  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

or  the  manner  of  teaching  it,  agreed  in  general,  and  have 
agreed  down  to  the  present,  that  history  ought  to  be 
taught. 

At  the  opening  of  the  century  history  began  to  be  defi- 
nitely enlisted  in  the  service  of  patriotism,  and  attention 
turned  in  consequence  distinctly  to  national  history. 
The  patriotic  conception  was  by  no  means  novel.  It 
had  been  suggested  by  Wimpheling  in  his  textbook  of 
1505.  It  had  moved  the  English  Privy  Council  to  the 
action  of  1582.  It  had  been  in  the  minds  of  Comenius 
and  of  Rolland.  It  had  inspired  the  French  proposals 
of  1793.  "Especially  the  history  of  the  Fatherland" 
had  again  and  again  appeared  in  school  programs  for 
history.  But  it  remained  for  the  new  patriotism  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  the  new  need  felt  by  rulers  for 
popular  support  to  make  the  conception  really  effective. 
The  history  of  the  Fatherland,  declared  Riedel,  in  sub- 
stance, must  be  taught  in  all  our  schools ;  it  must  have 
a  place  in  our  universities ;  patriotic  men  must  unceas- 
ingly speak  of  it,  to  the  end  that  love  and  reverence  for 
existing  institutions  may  be  inculcated.  No  branch  of 
public  affairs  must  be  intrusted  to  men  who  do  not  appre- 
ciate the  history  of  their  own  country.  Then  will  history 
live  in  the  people  and  the  people  will  live  on  in  history. 
Riedel  was  a  Prussian  and  spoke  with  the  authority  of 
historical  scholarship.  Gedicke,  a  schoolmaster  of  Leip- 


HISTORY   IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE      97 

sic,  was  equally  emphatic :  "The  history  of  the  Father- 
land deserves  the  first  place."  Kohlrausch  went  a  step 
farther  and  made  patriotic  history  an  accomplished  fact. 
His  German  History  for  Schools,  published  in  1816,  re- 
ceived immediately  the  compliment  of  extended  use  and 
became  the  model  for  a  multitude  of  textbooks  both 
elementary  and  advanced.  In  it  spoke  the  spirit  so 
powerfully  stimulated,  first  by  defeat  and  then  by 
victory,  hi  the  conflict  with  Napoleon.  Battles  and  the 
doings  of  royalty  constituted  its  substance.  German 
patriotism  tended,  however,  to  assume  the  form  of  par- 
ticularism. The  Fatherland  was  not  one ;  it  was  many, 
divided  in  interest  and  sentiment.  Before  long  "every 
duodecimo  state  wanted  its  own  glorious  history,  which 
must,  so  far  as  possible,  be  older  and  more  glorious 
than  that  of  the  Hohenzollern."  * 

In  France,  by  the  program  of  1802  for  secondary 
schools,  French  history  and  geography  were  placed  on  an 
equal  footing  with  ancient  history.  The  program  for 
elementary  schools  had,  during  the  Napoleonic  regime, 
no  history  at  all,  but  that  there  was  a  certain  kind  of 
popular  historical  instruction  is  indicated  by  a  Catechism 
for  Use  in  All  the  Churches  of  the  French  Empire,  pub- 
lished in  1806.  This  catechism,  after  enumerating  the 
duties  of  Christians  toward  their  ruler,  continues : 
1  Reim,  Methodik  des  Gesckicktsunlerrichts,  186-187. 
H 


gS  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

"Question.  Are  there  not  special  motives  that  ought 
to  attach  us  more  strongly  to  Napoleon  I,  our  Emperor  ? 

"Answer.  Yes,  for  it  is  he  whom  God  has  raised  up 
at  a  critical  time  to  reestablish  the  holy  religion  of  our 
fathers  and  to  be  its  protector.  He  has  restored  and 
conserved  public  order  by  his  profound  and  ever  active 

wisdom  and  defends  the  State  with  his  powerful  arm. 
» i 

The  spirit  here  illustrated  is  said  to  have  been  re- 
flected, though  not  without  protest,  even  in  the  univer- 
sity. 

The  downfall  of  Napoleon  furnished  both  the  occasion 
and  the  opportunity  for  the  development  of  patriotic 
history  in  the  schools  of  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe. 
Patriotism  became  in  fact  the  dominant  purpose  of  school 
instruction  in  history,  and  is,  in  most  countries,  still  the 
dominant  purpose.  Patriotism  meant,  first  of  all,  loyalty 
to  king  or  prince.  But  it  meant  also  a  character  and 
spirit  shaped  by  national  ideals.  The  Prussian  was  to 
be  made  more  Prussian,  the  Bavarian  more  Bavarian, 
the  Austrian  more  Austrian,  the  Frenchman  more 
French. .  As  the  century  advanced  the  effect  was  seen  in 
the  framing  of  elementary  history  programs  devoted 
almost  exclusively  to  national  history.  It  was  of  course 
scarcely  possible  to  teach  the  history  of  any  European 

1Pizard,  L'Histoire  dans  VEnseignemerti  Primaire,   14. 


HISTORY  'IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  EST  EUROPE      99 

country  without  some  reference  to  general  European 
conditions,  but  the  latter  were,  as  a  rule,  reduced  to  the 
lowest  possible  minimum  and  used  chiefly  for  the  eluci- 
dation or  glorification  of  national  or  local  history.  In 
secondary  schools  ancient  history  continued  to  be  im- 
portant. If  it  was  wise  to  devote  substantially  half  of  the 
total  instruction  hours  to  Greek  and  Latin,  it  could  not 
be  unwise  to  devote  some  hours  to  the  history  of  Greeks 
and  Romans.  But  the  history  of  the  Fatherland  received 
a  new  emphasis..  It  was  in  some  cases  the  point  toward 
which  all  other  history  was  made  to  converge.  It  was 
in  all  cases  at  least  recognized.  Bible  history  commonly 
remained  both  in  elementary  and  in  secondary  schools, 
but  it  was  often  classed  with  religious  rather  than  with 
historical  instruction. 

The  history  of  the  Fatherland  for  the  elementary 
school,  general  history,  with  special  reference  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Fatherland,  for  the  secondary  school,  consti- 
tuted a  natural  apportionment  of  fields.1  The  distinc- 
tion in  Europe  between  the  two  kinds  of  schools  is  not, 
as  in  the  United  States,  a  distinction  merely  between 
lower  and  higher  grades  of  instruction.  Schools  classed 
as  elementary  in  Europe  may  include  subjects  and  grades 
of  instruction  which  belong  with  us  to  the  high  school ; 

1  The  use  here  made  of  the  terms  "  elementary  "  and  "  secondary  "  is 
objectionable,  but  no  better  terms  seem  to  be  available. 


100  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

schools  classed  as  secondary  may  include  subjects  and 
grades  of  instruction  which  with  us  belong  to  the  ele- 
mentary school.  Secondary  schools  in  Europe  are  not, 
that  is,  as  with  us,  schools  superimposed  upon  elementary 
schools.  The  distinction  between  them  is  social.  Each 
has  a  field  peculiar  to  itself ;  each  is  a  unit  for  the  con- 
struction of  programs.  The  public  elementary  school 
is  the  people's  school.  It  provides  the  compulsory  min- 
imum of  free  instruction  and  a  varying  amount  of  addi- 
tional free  instruction.  Public  secondary  schools,  while 
supported  by  taxation,  usually  charge  tuition  fees  and 
are  intended  for  the  selected  few.  They  are  institutions 
of  general  culture  alike  for  those  who  do,  and  for  those 
who  do  not,  expect  to  go  to  the  university,  and  to  the 
professions  for  which  university  training  is  essential. 
The  preparatory  work  of  the  first  three  or  four  years  can 
be  done  in  the  public  elementary  school.  Usually  it  is 
done  either  in  special  schools  or  in  special  preparatory 
classes  attached  to  secondary  schools.  The  full  course 
in  boys'  secondary  schools  is  commonly  completed  at 
about  the  age  of  eighteen  and  leaves  the  pupil  at  about 
the  point  where  American  colleges  leave  him  at  the  end 
of  the  sophomore  year.  The  full  course  for  girls'  second- 
ary schools  is  as  a  rule,  less  comprehensive  and  is  com- 
monly completed  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  Until  late  in 
the  century  state-supported  secondary  schools  existed  for 


HISTORY  IN   THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE       IOI 

boys  alone.  Girls  were  excluded.  Provision  for  their  in- 
terests was  left  to  private  schools  and  to  local  initiative. 
The  elementary  school  in  Europe  commonly  takes 
account  of  the  pupil  up  to  the  age  of  thirteen  or  fourteen, 
sometimes  up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen.  The 
secondary  school  takes  account  of  the  pupil's  prepara- 
tion as  far  back  as 'the  age  of  six.  In  the  matter  of  grad- 
ing and  arranging  material  for  historical  instruction  the 
two  kinds  of  schools  have,  therefore,  essentially  the  same 
problem.  The  arrangement  first  adopted  was  chronolog- 
ical, the  treatment  of  events  in  the  order  of  their  occur- 
rence. But  this,  it  was  objected,  is  not  to  grade  history 
at  all,  and  has  the  further  disadvantage  of  deferring  to 
the  very  end  of  the  course  the  history  which  lies  nearest 
to  the  pupil  and  is  most  important  to  him.  Some  pro- 
posed, therefore,  to  reverse  the  chronological  arrangement, 
to  begin  with  the  present  and  to  study  history  backward. 
This  plan  was  advocated  by  d'Alembert  and  Basedow  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  It  seemed  to  have  the  approval 
of  the  present  German  Emperor  when,  in  1890,  he  said : 
"Hitherto  the  road  has  led  from  Thermopylae  by  way  of 
Cannae  to  Rossbach  and  Bienville.  I  would  lead  our 
youths  from  Sedan  and  Gravelotte  by  way  of  Leuthen 
and  Rossbach  back  to  Man  tinea  and  Thermopylae."  l 
Others  proposed  the  "high  point"  plan.  They  would 

1  Reim,  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts,  77. 


102  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

begin  with  some  great  person  or  some  great  event  easily 
within  the  intelligence  of  the  pupil  and  then  by  a  course 
of  questioning  lead  him  either  backward  or  forward  to 
other  great  persons,  or  other  great  events,  equally  suited 
to  his  intelligence.  Haupt  in  1841,  applying  principles 
laid  down  by  Pestalozzi,  proposed  a  grouping  arrange- 
ment. He  would  have  the  first  year  of  school  history 
devoted  to  home  life,  illustrated  by  scenes  from  the  home 
life  of  Romulus,  Cyrus,  Alexander,  Henry  IV,  Frederick 
II,  and  so  on,  the  second  year  to  social  life,  illustrated 
by  reference  to  the  social  conduct  of  well-known  charac- 
ters, the  third  year  to  political  life,  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  great  rulers,  the  fourth  year  to  religious  life,  the 
fifth  year  to  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  the  sixth  year  to 
a  general  chronological  survey  of  history.  Biedermann 
in  1860  proposed  a  retrospective  arrangement.  His 
plan  for  German  Kulturgeschichte  was  to  make  clear  the 
conditions  of  life  at  selected  intervals,  to  pass,  for  ex- 
ample, from  conditions  in  the  fifth  century  to  condi- 
tions in  the  eighth  century,  compare  them,  note  the 
changes,  and  then  move  backward  from  the  eighth 
century  to  the  fifth  to  discover  the  causes  that  produced 
the  changes.  The  Herbart-Ziller-Rein  school  of  peda- 
gogy applied  the  culture-epoch  theory. 

All  of  these  influenced  to  some  extent  the  construction 
of  programs.     But  the  plan  most  widely  adopted  was  the 


HISTORY   IN   THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE        103 

"concentric  circles,"  or  "spiral"  plan.  The  general 
principle  of  this  arrangement  is  that  there  should  be 
well-defined  stages  of  historical  instruction  corresponding 
to  stages  of  the  pupil's  development,  and  that  hi  each 
stage  there  should  be  a  survey  of  the  field  as  a  whole.  In 
the  most  elementary  survey  the  design  is  to  leave  vivid 
impressions  of  individual  persons  and  events,  either  real 
or  imaginary,  with  little  or  no  attempt  to  make  a  con- 
nected story.  In  subsequent  surveys  facts  already  pre- 
sented are  again  brought  out,  but  new  facts  are  added 
and  there  is  increasing  emphasis  upon  the  relation  of 
facts  to  each  other.  In  this  way  the  pupil  may  pass  over 
the  ground  laid  out  for  school  history,  or,  to  keep  the  fig- 
ure of  the  circle,  may  look  about  him  from  a  rising  center 
as  many  times  as  may  be  desirable. 

In  France  history  had,  as  we  have  seen,  a  place  in  the 
program  of  1802  for  secondary  schools.  It  was,  indeed, 
by  the  law  of  that  year  included  in  the  very  definition  of 
a  secondary  school.  Since  then  its  fortunes  have  fluc- 
tuated somewhat  violently  with  the  ups  and  downs  of 
French  politics.  It  has  been  sometimes  neglected  in 
actual  instruction  and  sometimes  barely  tolerated,  some- 
times practically  banished  and  sometimes  taught  with 
enthusiasm.  But  it  has  always  appeared  in  the  program 
prescribed  by  the  state  for  local  colleges  and  for  state 
lycees,  the  two  general  types  of  French  secondary  schools. 


104  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

The  program  of  1802  had  history  In  three  years  of  the 
six-year  course :  epitomes  of  Bible  history  and  of  Greek 
history  in  the  first  semester  of  the  first  year,  ancient 
history  in  the  second  semester  of  the  second  year,  and  the 
history  and  geography  of  France  throughout  the  third 
year.  By  1821  the  number  of  classes  had  been  increased 
by  establishing  two  years  of  preparatory  work  and  by 
offering  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  year,  for  those  who  were 
not  candidates  for  degrees,  the  option  of  passing  to  special 
classes  in  philosophy,  mathematics,  and  physics.  For 
boys  who  elected  the  latter  there  were  special  lessons 
in  modern  history.  The  regular  program  provided  his- 
tory in  seven  of  the  eight  years  of  the  course :  Bible  his- 
tory in  the  two  preparatory  years ;  comparison  of  ancient 
and  modern  geography  in  the  third  year;  ancient  his- 
tory hi  the  fourth  and  fifth  years ;  the  Middle  Ages  in 
the  sixth  year;  and  modern  history,  especially  the 
history  of  France,  in  the  seventh  year.  The  program  of 
1842  had  history  throughout  the  eight  years  of  the  regu- 
lar course.  Retaining,  for  the  first  seven  years,  the 
arrangement  of  1821,  it  added  in  the  eighth  year  a  sur- 
vey of  French  history  up  to  1789.  There  was  another 
significant  addition.  Provision  was  made  in  each  year 
for  studying  in  connection  with  history  the  "  geography  of 
this  part  of  history."  In  1852  the  concentric  circles 
arrangement  was  adopted.  After  two  preparatory  years 


of  Bible  history,  ancient  history  and  geography  were 
treated  in  the  third  year  as  an  introduction  to  French 
history.  French  history  was  begun  in  the  fourth  year 
and  completed  in  the  fifth  year.  Geography  was  treated 
as  in  the  program  of  1842.  Then  followed  a  chronologi- 
cal survey  of  history  and  historical  geography  from  an- 
cient to  modern  times,  completed  in  the  eighth  year. 
In  1865  special  mention  of  historical  geography  was  dis- 
continued and  the  concentric  circles  arrangement  was 
abandoned.  There  were  now  three  preparatory  classes. 
The  first  two  had  Bible  history  as  before.  The  third  had 
a  summary  of  French  history.  This  was  followed  by 
a  chronological  survey  of  ancient  history,  begun  in  the 
fourth  year  and  completed  in  the  sixth  year.  Then 
came  a  chronological  survey  of  French  history  to  1815, 
completed  in  the  ninth  year.  The  class  in  philosophy 
had  contemporary  history,  1789-1864.  In  1876  Euro- 
pean history  was  substituted  for  French  history  in  the 
seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  years,  and  contemporary 
history  for  the  class  in  philosophy  was  changed  to  the 
period  1789-1848.  In  1887  Bible  history  disappeared. 
The  first  year  was  now  devoted  to  biographical  stories 
of  famous  men,  ancient  and  modern.  The  next  two 
years  were  given  to  a  chronological  survey  of  French 
history.  Contemporary  history  for  the  class  in  philos- 
ophy was  brought  down  to  1875.  In  other  respects  the 


106  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

program  remained  as  in  1876.  In  1890  contemporary 
history  for  the  class  in  philosophy  was  extended  to  iSSp.1 

In  this  rapid  sketch  of  programs  from  1802  to  1890 
only  the  most  important  acts  of  revision  have  been  cited. 
A  fuller  account  would  show  the  history  course  in  al- 
most continuous  process  of  reconstruction.  The  chief 
difficulty  appears  to  have  been  the  management  of 
modern  history,  especially  modern  French  history.  The 
history  that  men  had  been  living  had,  after  1789,  shuted 
so  often  its  channel  and  had  left  behind  so  much  material 
for  controversy  that  each  new  regime  seemed  to  re- 
quire a  new  kind  of  history.  The  Restoration  enjoined 
caution.  Teachers  were  instructed  to  avoid  whatever 
might  stir  political  feeling  and  engender  party  animosity. 
In  1842  the  special  course  in  French  history  ended 
abruptly  at  1789;  in  1852,  at  1815.  In  1865  contempo- 
rary history  was  carried  for  the  first  time  to  the  pupil's 
own  day.  In  1876  the  limit  was  fixed  at  1848 ;  in  1887, 
at  1875  ;  in  1890,  at  1889. 

In  the  time  schedule  history  was  often  listed  with 
geography,  for  classes  in  which  geography  was  taught, 
but  the  two  were  treated  as  independent  subjects  with 
little  attempt  at  correlation  beyond  the  emphasis  placed 

1  The  material  here  used  for  programs  before  1890  is  taken  from 
Statistique  de  I' Enseignement  Secandaire  en  1887,  appendix.  A  somewhat 
different  view  of  programs  is  presented  by  Gr6ard  in  Education  el  In- 
struction, Enseignement  Secondaire,  II,  274-319. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE        107 

upon  historical  geography.  The  time  allowance  varied 
with  class  and  program.  At  one  time  history  and 
geography  together  had  one  hour  a  week  throughout 
the  course;  at  another  time  they  had  four  hours  a 
week.  The  average  was  about  two  hours  a  week  in 
the  lower  classes  and  about  three  hours  a  week  in  the 
upper  classes.  This  meant  for  history  and  geography 
together  an  average  of  about  one  tenth  of  the  total  of 
instruction  hours. 

The  program  at  present  in  force  for  boys  was  adopted 
in  1902,  and  is  as  follows : 

YEAR.    CLASS  1 

1.  Classes  enfantines.    Anecdotes  and  biographical  stories,  his- 

torical and  legendary.    Stories  of  travel.    Explanation  of 
pictures. 

PREPARATORY  DIVISION 

History  one  hour  a  week 

2.  Premiere  annee.    Stories  and  familiar  conversations  con- 

cerning the  great  characters  and  chief  facts  of  national 
history. 

3.  Deuxieme  ann6e.    The  program  of  premidre  continued. 

ELEMENTARY  DIVISION 
History  and  geography  three  hours  a  week 

4.  Huitieme.     Summary  of  French  history  to  1610. 

5.  Septieme.     Summary  of  French  history,  1610-1871. 

1  As  designated  in  the  program. 


108  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

FIRST  CYCLE 
History  and  geography  three  hours  a  week 

6.  Sixieme.    Ancient  history  to  Theodosius. 

7.  Cinquieme.    Middle  Ages  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

8.  Quatrieme.    Modern  history  to  1787. 

9.  Troisieme.     Modern  history  continued  to  1889.    The  gov- 

ernment of  France  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

SECOND  CYCLE 

10.  Seconde.    Review  of  Europe,  tenth  to  fifteenth  centuries. 

Modern  history  to  end  of  seventeenth  century.    Two  hours 
a  week.    All  sections. 

Ancient  history :  the  Orient  and  Greece.    Two  hours  a  week. 
Sections  A  and  B.1 

11.  Premiere.    Modern  history,  Louis  XV  to  1815.    Two  hours 

a  week.    All  sections. 

Ancient  history :  Roman  and  European  history  to  the  tenth 
century.    Two  hours  a  week.    Sections  A  and  B. 

12.  Philosophic  et  MathSmatiques.1    Modern  history  since  1815. 

Two  hours  a  week,  first  semester;    three  hours  a  week, 
second  semester.    All  sections.1 

As  pupils  begin  the  course  here  outlined  at  about  the 
age  of  six,  the  twelve  years  correspond  to  the  twelve 

1  Different  sections  pursue  different  courses  of  study.  In  the  first 
cycle  pupils  have  an  option  between  two  sections,  A  and  B.  The  first 
makes  Latin  obligatory  and  Greek  optional.  The  second  has  neither 
Greek  nor  Latin.  In  the  second  cycle  there  are  four  sections :  (A)  Latin 
with  Greek ;  (B)  Latin  and  modern  languages ;  (C)  Latin  and  the  sciences; 
(D)  Modern  languages  and  the  sciences,  without  Latin. 

*  The  pupil  enters  either  dasse  de  philosophic  or  classe  de  malht- 
matiques.  Each  class  comprises  two  sections. 

1  Plan  d' Etudes  et  Programmes  d' Enseignement  dans  les  Lycees  et  C<A- 
liges  de  Carbons. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE        IOQ 

years  spent  by  American  pupils  who  follow  the  usual 
eight-year  course  of  the  elementary  school  and  then  pass 
through  the  usual  four-year  course  of  the  high  school. 

Lycees  and  colleges  for  girls  were  authorized  for  the 
first  time  by  a  decree  of  1881.  The  instruction,  as  or- 
ganized in  1882,  admitted  pupils  at  the  age  of  twelve 
and  was  divided  into  two  periods,  one  of  three  years,  and 
one  of  two  years.  The  history  for  the  first  period  was  a 
chronological  survey  of  French  history,  with  some  refer- 
ence to  general'history,  down  to  1875.  The  history  for 
the  second  period  was  a  general  survey  of  civilization  from 
prehistoric  times  down  to  the  pupil's  own  day.  The 
program  for  preparatory  classes  was  left  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  individual  lycee  or  college,  subject  to  ap- 
proval by  the  rector  of  the  academy.1  The  program  at 
present  hi  force  retains  the  plan  of  "  facts"  for  the  first 
period  and  "  civilization"  for  the  second  period,  and  in- 
cludes a  model  for  guidance  in  constructing  programs  for 
preparatory  classes.  The  latter,  designed  for  girls  be- 
tween the  ages  of  eight  and  twelve,  provides  in  the  first 
three  years  one  hour  a  week  of  biographical  stories, 
chiefly  from  French  history,  and  in  the  fourth  year  one 
hour  a  week  in  ancient  history.  In  the  upper  classes 
history  has  two  hours  a  week.  French  history,  with  a 
summary  of  general  history,  is  carried  to  1610  hi  the  first 

1  Academies  are  administrative  districts. 


110  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

year  of  the  first  period,  continued  to  about  1787  in  the 
second  year,  and  to  contemporary  France  in  the  third 
year.  In  the  first  year  of  the  second  period  the  history 
of  civilization  is  carried  from  its  origins  in  prehistoric 
times  to  1787,  and  in  the  second  year  to  the  present.1 

In  the  German  states  the  particularism  already  noted 
led,  after  1816,  to  such  variety  of  detail  in  history  pro- 
grams that  general  descriptions  are  likely  to  be  mislead- 
ing. That  history  should  be  taught  in  secondary  schools 
was  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  different  states 
had  different  programs  and  even  within  the  same  state 
there  were  marked  variations.  Moreover,  revisions  were 
as  frequent  as  in  France.  The  position  of  Prussia  since 
1871  has  given  a  certain  prestige  to  Prussian  practice, 
but  secondary  schools  in  other  parts  of  the  empire  have 
continued  to  shape  their  history  programs  with  special 
reference  to  local  conditions.  In  the  following  examples 
of  Gymnasium  programs  the  years  in  the  course  are,  for 
convenience,  designated  by  numbers  and  not  by  the 
German  names  for  the  different  classes.  A  six-year 
course  commonly  implies  that  pupils  enter  at  the  age  of 
twelve,  a  nine-year  course,  that  they  enter  at  the  age  of 
nine. 

Minden,  1824.     Six-year  course,     i .  Biographical  sur- 

1  Plan  d' Etudes  et  Programmes  de  I' Enseignement  Secondaire  des  Jeunes 
Pities. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE        III 

vey  of  ancient  history.  2.  Biographical  survey  of  mediae- 
val and  modern  history.  3.  Review  of  general  history, 
followed  by  Greek  history,  with  the  geography  of  ancient 
Greece.  4.  Review  of  general  history,  followed  by  Ger- 
man history.  5  and  6.  General  history,  review  of  an- 
cient history.1 

Schleusingen,  1841.  Five-year  course,  i.  Biographi- 
cal survey  to  the  discovery  of  America.  2.  General 
history  to  the  discovery  of  America.  3.  German  history 
to  1700.  4.  Ancient  history  to  Augustus.  5.  General 
history  from  the  discovery  of  America  to  the  French 
Revolution,  followed  by  mediaeval  history.2 

Miihlhausen,  1841.  Five-year  course,  i.  Biographi- 
cal survey  of  general  history  to  the  Reformation. 

2.  Chief  events  of  ancient,  mediaeval  and  modern  history. 

3.  General  history  from  the  beginning  of  historical  knowl- 
edge to  Charlemagne.    4.  Ancient  history  and  geography 
to  end  of  Greek  independence.     5.  General  history  from 
the  beginning  of  historical  knowledge  to  Charlemagne.3 

Minister,  1842.  Six-year  course,  i.  Ancient  history 
to  Alexander.  2.  Roman  history  to  476  A.D.,  with  the 
geography  of  the  Roman  Empire.  3.  German  history 
to  Peace  of  Westphalia.  4.  Ancient  history.  5.  An- 

1  Jahresberkht  fiber  das  Gymnasium  zu  Minden,  1824-1825. 
1  Jahresbericht  des  gemeinschaftlichen  hennebergischen  Gymnasiums  zu 
Schleusingen,  1841. 

3  Jahresbericht  iiber  das  Gymnasium  zu  Miihlhausen,  1841. 


112  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

cient  history,  followed  by  a  review  of  German  history  to 
1273.  6.  Mediaeval  and  a  part  of  modern  history.1 

Munster,  1851.  Nine-year  course,  i.  Ancient  his- 
tory to  the  Romans.  2.  The  Middle  Ages.  3.  The 
Greeks  to  the  death  of  Alexander.  4.  The  Romans  to 
Augustus.  5.  German  history  to  Ferdinand  I.  6.  An- 
cient history  to  Alexander.  7.  Greek  and  Roman  his- 
tory. 8.  Roman  history,  followed  by  the  Middle  Ages 
to  the  end  of  the  Crusades.  9.  General  history  from  the 
Crusades  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia;  Brandenburg- 
Prussia  to  death  of  Frederick  the  Great.2 

Munster,  1856.  Nine-year  course,  i.  No  history 
2.  No  history.  3.  The  Greeks  to  the  death  of  Alexan- 
der. 4.  The  Romans  to  Augustus.  5.  The  Germans  in 
the  Middle  Ages  to  death  of  Maximilian.  6.  Ancient 
history  to  Alexander.  7.  Greek  history  after  Alexander ; 
Roman  history  to  Augustus.  8.  Roman  history  from 
Augustus  to  476  A.D.  ;  the  Middle  Ages,  with  special 
reference  to  German  history.  9.  Modern  history  to  the 
French  Revolution;  Brandenburg-Prussia  to  i8i5-3 

Nordhausen,  1842.  Six-year  course,  i.  Greek  his- 
tory to  beginning  of  Persian  wars.  2.  Geography  and 
history  of  Germany,  especially  Prussia.  3.  Geography 
and  history  of  Europe.  4.  Ancient  history  and  geog- 

1  Jakresbericht  uber  das  Konigliche  Gymnasium  zu  Munster,  1842-1843. 
8  7Wd.,i8si-i8s2.  » Ibid., 1 856-1 85 7. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  LN  EUROPE        113 

raphy  to  downfall  of  Persian  Empire.  5.  Geography  and 
history  of  Italy  to  fall  of  Roman  Republic.  6.  Modern 
history  after  I660.1 

Nordhausen,  1848.  Six-year  course,  i.  Biographical 
stories  from  ancient  history.  2.  History  and  geography 
of  Germany  and  Prussia.  3.  History  and  geography  of 
Europe  outside  of  Germany.  4.  Ancient  history  to  the 
battle  of  Ipsus.  5.  Roman  history,  390  B.C.  to  downfall  of 
Republic.  6.  General  history ;  the  Middle  Ages  to  1273. 2 

Up  to  about  1860  the  Gymnasium  was  practically  the 
only  type  of  German  secondary  school.  Its  ideals  were 
'classical.  Latin  and  Greek  alone  consumed  almost  half 
of  the  total  hours  of  instruction.  After  1860  other  types 
of  secondary  schools  developed  rapidly  —  Realgymnasien, 
Oberrealschulen,  Realschulen,  and  hohere  Biirgerschulen. 
The  Realgymnasium  omitted  Greek  and  laid  stress  on 
modern  languages,  mathematics,  and  natural  science. 
The  others  omitted  both  Greek  and  Latin.  The  history 
program  has  varied  somewhat  with  the  type  of  school. 
The  Realschule  at  Nordhausen,  for  example,  with  a 
seven-year  course,  had  in  1856  the  following  history 
program:  i.  Preparatory  class.  No  history.  2.  No 
history.  3.  Biographies  from  ancient  history.  4.  Ger- 
man history.  5.  The  German  people,  most  important 

1  Zu  der  o/enttichen  Prufung  sammtlicher  Klassen  des  Gymnasiums  zu 
Nordhausen,  1842-1843.  *  Ibid.,  1848-1849. 


114  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

achievements.  6.  The  Greeks.  7.  Mediaeval  and  mod- 
ern history  to  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.1 
The  same  Realschule  in  1878,  with  a  six-year  course, 
had:  i.  No  history.  2.  No  history.  3.  Greek  and 
Roman  history.  4.  German  history  to  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  5.  The  Greeks  and  their  oriental  neigh- 
bors. 6.  The  Middle  Ages.2 

History  and  geography  were  sometimes  listed  together 
throughout  the  course,  sometimes  listed  together  for  a 
part  of  the  course  and  separated  for  the  remainder  of 
the  course,  sometimes  listed  separately  throughout  the 
course.  There  was  occasionally  systematic  correlation 
tor  a  part  of  the  course,  but  in  the  main  each  subject 
was  treated  independently.  The  time  allowance  for 
history  was  more  generous  in  the  secondary  schools  of 
Germany  than  in  those  of  France.  It  was  rare  in  Ger- 
many to  find  less  than  two  hours  a  week  given  to  history 
in  any  class,  and  the  allowance  for  upper  classes  was 
sometimes  four  hours  a  week. 

The  following  are  examples  of  current  German  pro- 
grams: 

Prussia.  Gymnasien  and  Realgymnasien.  i.  Scenes 
from  the  history  of  the  Fatherland.,  One  hour  a  week. 
2.  Stories  from  ancient  history  and  mythology.  The 

lZu  der  ojfenttichen  PrUfung  s&mmtticher  Klassen  der  Realschule  zu 
Nordhausen,  1856-1857.  *  Ibid.,  1878-1879. 


HISTORY  IN   THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE        115 

Greeks  to  Solon,  the  Romans  to  the  war  with  Pyrrhus. 
One  hour  a  week.  3.  Greek  history  to  the  death  of 
Alexander;  Roman  history  to  the  death  of  Augustus. 
Two  hours  a  week.  4.  The  Roman  Empire  under  the 
great  emperors.  German  history  from  the  first  con- 
flict between  Romans  and  Germans  to  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Review  of  ancient  history.  Two  hours  a 
week.  5.  German  history  from  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages  to  the  accession  of  Frederick  the  Great,  especially 
Brandenburg-Prussian  history.  Two  hours  a  week. 

6.  German  and  Prussian  history  from  the  accession  jof 
Frederick  the  Great  to  the  present.     Two  hours  a  week. 

7.  Greek  history  to  the  death  of  Alexander;    Roman 
history    to    Augustus.     Review    of    German    history. 
Three  hours  a  week.     8.  The  most  important  Roman 
emperors.     German  history  to  the  end  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.     Review  of  ancient  history.     Three  hours  a 
week.     9.  Modern  history,  1648  to  the  present,  especially 
Brandenburg-Prussian  history.     Three  hours  a  week.1 

Saxony.     Gymnasien.     i.  Greek  mythology;    scenes 
from  Greek  and  Roman  history.    Two  hours  a  week. 

2.  Scenes  from  later  Roman  history  and  from  German 
history  to  the  death  of  Charlemagne.     Two  hours  a  week. 

3.  Stories  from  German  history  from  the  death  of  Charle- 

1  Lehrplane  und  Lehraufgaben  fur  die  hoheren  Schulen  in  Preussen, 
1911,  p.  46-48. 


Il6  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

magne  to  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  with  special  reference  to 
Saxony.  Two  hours  a  week.  4.  German  history  from 
1648  to  the  present,  with  special  reference  to  Saxony. 
Two  hours  a  week.  5.  Oriental  and  Greek  history.  Two 
hours  a  week.  6.  Roman  history.  Two  hours  a  week. 
7.  The  Middle  Ages.  Three  hours  a  week.  8.  Modern 
history,  1500-1740.  Three  hours  a  week.  9.  Modern 
history,  1740  to  the  present.  Three  hours  a  week. 

Saxony.  Realgymnasien.  i.  Scenes  from  Greek  his- 
tory and  mythology.  One  hour  a  week.  2.  Scenes 
from  Roman  and  German  history  to  the  death  of  Charle- 
magne. One  hour  a  week.  3.  Scenes  from  German 
history  from  Charlemagne  to  the  Reformation.  Two 
hours  a  week.  4.  German  history  from  the  Reforma- 
tion to  the  present.  Two  hours  a  week.  5.  Oriental 
and  Greek  history  to  the  death  of  Alexander.  Two 
hours  a  week.  6.  Roman  history  to  Diocletian.  Two 
hours  a  week.  7.  Roman  history  after  Diocletian ;  the 
Middle  Ages.  Two  hours  a  week.  8.  Modern  history 
to  the  French  Revolution.  Two  hours  a  week.  9.  Mod- 
ern history,  1789  to  the  present,  especially  German  his- 
tory. Three  hours  a  week.1 

In  Germany,  as  in  France,  state-supported  secondary 
schools  for  girls  were  a  late  development  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  course,  including  three  years  of 

1  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912,  Heft  2,  p.  100-101. 


HISTORY   IN   THE   SCHOOL   CURRICULUM   IN  EUROPE        117 

preparatory  work,  usually  extends  over  a  period  of  ten 
years.  The  following  are  examples  of  the  most  recent 
types  of  programs : 

Prussia.  1-3.  Some  history  stories  in  connection  with 
instruction  in  German.  4.  Stories  from  classical  an- 
tiquity. Scenes  from  Brandenburg-Prussian  history. 
5.  Scenes  from  general  history,  especially  German  history 
and  local  history.  Two  hours  a  week.  6.  Chief  events 
of  Greek  history  to  the  death  of  Alexander  and  Roman 
history  to  the  death  of  Augustus;  the  great  Roman 
emperors;  the  triumph  of  Christianity.  Two  hours  a 
week.  7.  German  history  to  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Two  hours  a  week.  8.  The  Reformation  and 
Counter-Reformation.  The  Thirty  Years'  War.  Age 
of  Louis  XIV.  Brandenburg-Prussian  history  to  the 
death  of  Frederick  the  Great.  Review  of  ancient  history. 
Two  hours  a  week.  9.  Modern  history,  French  Revolu- 
tion to  the  present.  Two  hours  a  week.  10.  Selected 
topics  in  general  history.  Readings  from  sources  and 
from  standard  histories.1 

Saxony.  5.  Scenes  from  German  and  Saxon  history 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Two  hours 
a  week.  6.  Scenes  from  German  and  Saxon  history  from 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  to  the  present.  Two  hours  a 
week.  7.  Ancient  history  to  the  Germanic  migrations. 
1  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912,  Heft  i,  p.  36-37. 


Il8  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

Two  hours  a  week.  8.  German  history  continued  to 
1555.  Two  hours  a  week.  9.  German  history,  1555- 
1815,  with  special  reference  to  Saxony  and  Prussia."  Two 
hours  a  week.  10.  German  and  Saxon  history  to  the 
present,  with  special  attention  to  industrial  and  social 
development.  Two  hours  a  week.1 

In  Austria,  after  the  reorganization  of  secondary 
schools  by  the  law  of  1805,  history  received  about  the 
same  amount  of  time  as  in  the  states  of  Germany.  The 
program  of  1849  proved  so  satisfactory  that  it  became 
the  model  for  some  later  programs  in  Germany.  This 
program  had  geography,  but  no  history,  in  the  first  year. 
Beginning  with  the  second  year,  history  and  geography 
were  listed  together  with  a  time  allowance  of 'three  hours 
per  week.  The  arrangement  was:  2.  Ancient  history 
to  476  A.D.,  with  the  geography  of  the  countries  treated. 
3.  The  Middle  Ages.  4.  Modern  history,  with  special 
attention  to  Austria.  5.  Ancient  history  to  the  con- 
quest of  Greece  by  the  Romans,  including  Greek  litera- 
ture and  mythology  and  the  ancient  geography  of  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Greece.  6.  Roman  history,  including  Roman 
literature  and  mythology  and  the  geography  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  followed  by  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  Cru- 
sades. 7.  From  the  Crusades  to  the  War  of  the  Spanish 
Succession.  8.  From  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession 

1  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912,  Heft  i,  p.  36-37. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE       119 

to  1815,  with  special  reference  to  Austria,  and  with  at- 
tention to  the  geography  of  all  the  countries  considered.1 
In  1884  the  time  allowance  for  history  was  nearly  doubled 
and  some  changes  were  introduced,  chiefly  in  the  upper 
classes.  General  modern  history  was  completed  in  the 
seventh  year.  The  eighth  year  was  devoted  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy  and  to  a  review 
of  Greek  and  Roman  history.2  In  the  current  program, 
adopted  in  1909,  the  field  for  the  third  year  extends  to 
1648.  In  the  eighth  year  the  review  of  ancient  history 
is  retained  for  one  semester,  but  Austro-Hungarian  his- 
tory no  longer  appears.  In  other  respects  the  program 
remains  as  in  1884.  The  same  ground  is  covered  in  the 
Realgymnasien  and  in  the  Realschulen,  but  the  ar- 
rangement differs  slightly  and  there  is  no  review  of  an- 
cient history  at  the  end.3 

Most  of  the  other  countries  of  continental  Europe  have 
formulated  programs  in  history  for  secondary  schools 
as  systematic  as  those  of  Austria,  Germany,  and  France. 
The  plans  vary  widely,  but  there  is  general  agreement  that 
general  history  should  be  taught  with  special  reference  to 
national  history.  The  following  are  examples  of  programs : 

1  Programm  des  K.  K.  Neustadter  Gymnasiums  zu  Prag,  1853. 

2  Joseph  Baar,  Sludien  iiber  den  geschicMichen   Unterricht  an  den 
hoheren  Lehranstalten  des  Auslandes.    Beilage  zum  Programm  des  Pro- 
gymnasiums  in  Malmedy,  1895,  appendix. 

a  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912,  Heft  2,  p.  98. 


120  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Sweden.  Ten-year  course.  Two  hours  a  week,  first 
year ;  four  hours  a  week,  sixth  year ;  three  hours  a  week 
in  each  of  the  other  years,  i.  Northern  history  and 
mythology;  Sweden  to  1319.  2.  Sweden,  1319-1611; 
stories  from  Greek  and  Roman  history.  3.  Sweden, 
1611-1718;  ancient  history.  4.  Sweden,  1718-1809; 
general  history  to  1648.  5.  Sweden,  1809  to  the  present ; 
general  history,  1648  to  the  present.  6.  Review  of 
Sweden  since  1809 ;  the  government  of  Sweden ;  review 
of  general  history  since  1815.  7.  Ancient  and  mediaeval 
civilization,  Sweden  and  Europe.  8.  General  history, 
1500-1715;  Sweden,  1520-1718.  9.  Sweden,  1718- 
1844;  general  history,  1715-1848.  10.  Sweden  since 
1809 ;  general  history,  1815  to  the  present.1 

Belgium,  Athenees  Royaux,  since  1889.  Seven-year 
course.  Two  hours  a  week  throughout  the  course, 
i.  Survey  of  general  history.  2.  Ancient  history;  the 
Middle  Ages  to  the  Crusades.  3.  Review  of  "2"; 
general  history  from  the  Crusades  to  1789.  4.  Brief 
survey  of  contemporary  history ;  history  of  Belgium.  5. 
Ancient  history ;  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  Crusades.  6. 
Review  of  "5";  general  history  from  the  Crusades  to 
1789.  7.  History  of  Belgium;  modern  history  since 
i789.2 

1  Redogordse  for  Lunds  H'dgre  Allm&nna  LUroverk,  1911-1912. 

1  Minister e  de  I'Interieur  et  de  I' Instruction  publiqite,  1905,  p.  22-26. 


HISTORY  IN   THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE       121 

Russia,  program  of  1890.  Eight-year  course,  i  and 
2.  No  history.  3.  Russian  history.  4.  Ancient  his- 
tory. 5.  The  Middle  Ages ;  Russian  history  to  Ivan  IV. 
6.  Modern  history;  Russian  history  to  the  death  of 
Peter  I.  7.  Modern  history,  1715  to  the  present;  Rus- 
sian history.  8.  Greek  and  Roman  history;  Russian 
history.  The  time  allowance  for  history  in  the  fifth 
year  is  three  hours  a  week  and  in  the  other  years  two 
hours  a  week.1 

Italy,  program  of  1894.  Eight-year  course.  1-3.  No 
history.  4.  Oriental  and  Greek  history.  5.  Italian 
history  to  476  A.D.  6.  European  history,  476  to  Henry 
VII  of  Luxembourg,  with  special  reference  to  Italian 
history.  7.  European  and  Italian  history,  Henry  VII 
to  1748.  8.  European  and  Italian  history,  1748  to  the 
present.  The  time  allowance  for  history  is  four  hours  a 
week  in  the  last  two  years  and  three  hours  a  week  in 
each  of  the  other  years.2 

Spain,  program  of  1895.  Five-year  course.  Two 
years  of  history.  2.  History  of  Spain.  Three  hours  a 
week.  3.  General  history.  Three  hours  a  week.3 

In  England  the  systematic  teaching  of  history  in 
secondary  schools  was  inaugurated  by  Thomas  Arnold 
at  Rugby  about  1830.  His  plan  was  to  begin  in  the 

1  Joseph  Baar,  op.  cit.,  Part  I,  appendix. 

*lbid.  « Ibid.,  Part  II,  15. 


122  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

lowest  classes  with  scenes  from  universal  history.  These 
were  followed  in  the  middle  classes  by  lively  histories 
of  Greece,  Rome,  and  England,  and  in  the  higher  classes 
by  the  study  of  some  historian  of  the  first  rank,  "whose 
mind  was  formed  in,  and  bears  the  stamp  of,  some  period 
of  advanced  civilization  analogous  to  that  in  which  we 
now  live  "  ;  for  example,  Thucydides  or  Tacitus.1  After 
Arnold  little  was  done  with  history  until  the  universities 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  in  the  seventies  began  to  recog- 
nize history  in  their  examinations.  History  then  be- 
came practically  universal  in  secondary  schools.  Ex- 
aminations, however,  encouraged  subjects  rather  than 
well-organized  courses  hi  history.  The  fields  usually 
covered  were  Greek  and  Roman  history,  and  English 
history  to  1815  or  to  1832.  Often  also  Bible  history  was 
included,  and  occasionally  modern  continental  Europe 
received  some  attention.  During  the  last  twenty  years 
some  schools  have  introduced  more  connected  courses, 
but  in  general  the  subject  system  still  prevails. 

Elementary  education  lagged  behind  secondary  edu- 
cation, and  history  programs  for  elementary  schools 
developed  in  consequence  less  rapidly  than  those  for 
secondary  schools.  Where  elementary  schools  existed, 
history,  as  a  rule,  received  some  attention,  but  it  was 
not  until  about  1850  that  it  began  to  be  generally 

1  Withers,  Teaching  of  History,  113. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE       123 

recognized  as  a  separate  branch  of  instruction,  and  it 
was  not  until  about  1870  that  it  began  to  be  generally 
prescribed  for  all  elementary  schools.  Even  then  Eng- 
land formed  a  notable  exception.  Here  history  remained 
to  the  very  close  of  the  century  an  option,  to  be  included 
in  elementary  instruction,  or  omitted,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  masters. 

Programs  for  the  elementary  schools  down  to  the 
present  have  in  most  cases  confined  the  material  to 
national  history.  Surveys  of  general  history  beyond 
what  is  strictly  essential  to  an  understanding  of  national 
history  are  sometimes  included,  but  usually  amount  to 
little  more  than  a  bare  outline.  The  arrangement  of 
materials  has  varied  as  widely  as  the  arrangement  of 
materials  for  the  secondary  school.  The  plan  most 
generally  favored  appears  to  have  been  the  concentric 
circles  plan,  but  the  culture-epoch  theory  has  also  exerted 
a  very  considerable  influence.  Both  now  seem  to  be 
declining  in  favor.  At  the  present  time  history  is  taught 
in  elementary  schools  throughout  Europe,  sometimes  in 
every  year  of  the  course,  more  often  in  the  last  four  or 
five  years  only.  Programs  for  girls  occasionally  differ 
from  those  for  boys  in  their  greater  emphasis  upon 
Kulturgeschichte.  Where  history  is  taught  in  the  lowest 
classes  it  usually  receives  one  hour  a  week.  In  the 
upper  classes  the  allowance  is  usually  two  hours,  but 


124  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

may,  for  girls,  be  reduced  to  one  hour  in  the  last  year  or 
two  years.  In  the  following  examples  of  current  pro- 
grams the  numbers  indicate  the  age  of  pupils  and  not 
the  year  in  the  course. 

France.  5-7.  Anecdotes  and  biographical  stories 
from  French  history ;  stories  of  travel ;  explanation  of 
pictures.  7-9.  Stories  of  great  characters  and  chief 
events  of  French  history  to  end  of  Hundred  Years'  War. 
9-11.  Summary  of  French  history  from  end  of  fifteenth 
century  to  the  present.  11-13.  Review  of  French 
history,  with  a  more  thorough  study  of  the  modern 
period;  very  brief  summary  of  general  history.1 

Berlin.  8.  The  Emperor  and  his  family,  his  parents 
and  grandparents.  9.  Biographical  stories  from  Augus- 
tus to  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg.  10.  German  history, 
especially  Kulturgeschichte,  from  Maximilian  to  end  of 
Thirty  Years'  War.  n.  Brandenburg-Prussian  history 
to  the  death  of  Frederick  the  Great ;  Louis  XIV ;  Peter 
the  Great;  Charles  XII.  12.  Prussian  history  to  the 
present;  the  government  of  Prussia  and  of  Berlin; 
the  American  Revolution ;  the  French  Revolution ;  the 
Napoleonic  Empire;  Napoleon  III;  the  unification  of 
Italy.  13.  German  and  Prussian  territorial  expansion; 
German  and  Prussian  constitutional  history.2 

1  Plan  d' Etudes  des  Ecoles  Primaires  Eltmentaires. 
8  Reim,  Melhodik  des  Geschichtsunlcrrichls ,  82-84. 


HISTORY  IN  THE   SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE       125 

Munich.  10.  The  foundation  of  German  Christian 
culture :  German  and  Bavarian  history  to  the  death  of 
Frederick  Barbarossa.  n.  The  development  of  Ger- 
manism: German  and  Bavarian  history  to  Frederick 
the  Great.  12.  The  rebirth  of  the  German  Empire: 
German  and  Bavarian  history  from  Frederick  the  Great 
to  the  present.  13.  The  new  German  Empire;  the 
history  of  Munich ;  position  of  Bavaria  in  the  Empire ; 
industrial  and  constitutional  development  of  Bavaria 
and  of  the  Empire.1 

London.  7-8.  Simple  stories  and  events  mainly  con- 
nected with  a  few  outstanding  characters.  9.  Stories  of 
ancient  life  and  civilization.  10-1 1.  British  history  from 
the  earliest  times  to  1688.  12.  British  history  from  1688 
to  the  present  day.  13.  A  more  definite  understanding 
of  modern  British  history,  combined  with  Imperial  his- 
tory from  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  discovery.2 

The 'nineteenth  century  has  been  called  the  century 
of  history.  It  was  then  that  historians  began  really  to 
see  the  past  clearly  through  the  eyes  of  the  past  and  to 
recognize  hi  a  new  and  fuller  sense  the  differences  be- 
tween existence  in  the  past  and  existence  in  the  present. 
The  idea  of  development  changed  the  whole  aspect  of 

1  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1913,  Heft  i,  p.  25-27. 
*  Recommendations  in  Report  of  a  Conference  on  the  Teaching  of  His- 
tory  in  London  Elmentary  Schools,  ion,  p.  51. 


126  TEACHING  OF   HISTORY 

historical  study  and  made  the  historical  point  of  view 
essential  in  every  department  of  learning.  But  school 
programs  in  history  responded  slowly  to  these  profound 
changes.  The  nineteenth  century  inherited  and  'pre- 
served the  tradition  that  history  should  cultivate  the 
moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  the  pupil.  To  this  was 
added  the  patriotic  motive.  Until  late  in  the  century 
the  idea  that  history  should  cultivate  a  historical  atti- 
tude of  mind,  that  only  through  the  past  can  the  present 
be  made  intelligible,  and  other  implications  of  scientific 
history  received  scarcely  more  than  casual  mention. 
After  1860  Kulturgeschichte  became  a  general  issue,  and 
after  1870  a  generally  recognized  feature  of  school  his- 
tory. The  use  of  primary  sources  was  vigorously  ad- 
vocated, but  still  more  vigorously  opposed.  After  1890 
the  demand  that  school  history  should  be  historical, 
that  it  should  trace  development,  that  it  should,  above 
all,  explain  the  present,  and  that  the  chief  emphasis 
should  in  consequence  be  laid  upon  later  modern  his- 
tory, became  rather  general  in  educational  discussions. 
But  it  was  not  until  the  formulation  of  the  French  pro- 
gram of  1902  that  such  considerations  became  really 
paramount  in  practice,  and  the  French  program  re- 
mains the  most  advanced  example  of  its  kind.1 

1  For  further  references  to  the  content  of  school  history  see  Chapters 
VI  and  VII. 


CHAPTER  V 

HISTORY  IN  THE  SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  THE  UNITED 
/        STATES 

IN  the  United  States  the  recognition  of  history  as 
an  independent  branch  of  school  instruction  began  to 
assume  perceptible  proportions  about  1815.  Before 
that  time  history,  when  taught  at  all,  appears  to  have 
been  taught  incidentally  in  connection  with  other 
subjects.  Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  separate 
textbooks  for  history  began  to  be  imported  and  by  the 
middle  of  the  century  to  be  produced,  but  their  circu- 
lation seems  to  have  been  very  limited.  No  textbook 
treatment  of  American  history  was  attempted  until 
about  1785,  when  Noah  Webster  included  "short  stories 
of  the  geography  and  history  of  the  United  States" 
in  his  Grammatical  Institutes  of  the  English  Language, 
a  combination  of  reading  book,  spelling  book,  and  gram- 
mar. In  1788  the  same  author  wrote  for  Morse's  Geog- 
raphy "an  account  of  the  transactions  of  the  United 
States  after  the  Revolution;  which  account  fills  nearly 
twenty  pages."  l  Just  at  the  close  of  the  century  his- 
1  Quoted  by  Russell,  in  History  Teacher's  Magazine,  V,  311. 
127 


128  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

tory  seems  occasionally  to  have  received  some  special 
attention.  Lewis  Cass,  who  left  the  academy  at  Exeter 
in  1799,  carried  with  him  a  certificate  that  named  his- 
tory as  one  of  the  studies  in  which  he  had  made  "valuable 
progress."  1  In  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  may  have  been  other  schools  in  which  pupils 
made  "valuable  progress"  in  history,  but  the  school 
curricula  of  the  time  bear  scarcely  any  testimony  to 
suggest  the  opportunity  for  winning  such  distinction. 

The  earliest  indications  of  a  "movement"  toward  the 
establishment  of  history  as  a  separate  school  study  may 
be  dated  about  1815.  It  was  at  first  a  slow  movement. 
History,  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  was  added  to  the 
curriculum  in  perhaps  a  score  of  academies  in  New 
England  and  New  York.  In  1827,  Massachusetts, 
by  statutory  mandate,  placed  "the  history  of  the  United 
States"  on  the  list  of  subjects  to  be  taught  in  "every 
city,  town,  or  district  of  five  hundred  families  or  house- 
holders,"  and  "history"  on  the  list  of  subjects  to  be 
taught,  "in  addition  to  all  the  aforegoing  branches," 
in  "  every  city,  town,  or  district  containing  four  thousand 
inhabitants."  The  law  was  never  rigidly  enforced,  but 
ten  years  later  more  schools  had  provided  for  both  the 
"history  of  the  United  States"  and  for  "history"  than 
for  any  other  subject  added  by  the  law  to  the  older 

1  McLaughlin,  Lewis  Cass,  39. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  1 29 

strictly  common  branches.  More  than  two  thirds  of 
the  towns  reporting  in  1837  offered  United  States 
History.1  Within  the  same  period  history  advanced 
rapidly  in  the  academies  of  New  York.  In  1834  all 
but  one  of  those  reporting  to  the  Regents  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  had  admitted  history.  Later,  as 
the  number  of  schools  increased,  the  proportion  of  those 
teaching  history  for  a  time  fell  off  somewhat.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts also,  there  was,  for  some  years  after  1837,  a 
relative  decline. '  But  in  both  sections  the  academies 
and  high  schools  that  offered  history  continued  to  con- 
stitute a  majority.  In  1852,  126  out  of  170  in  New  York 
offered  general  history  and  91  United  States  history; 
in  1862,  132  out  of  204  academies  offered  general  history 
and  169  United  States  history.2 

Outside  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  the  response 
to  the  claims  of  history  appears  to  have  come  less 
readily.  Among  the  newer  states  Michigan  manifested, 
perhaps,  the  keenest  and  most  sustained  interest. 
Here  in  1837,  at  the  very  beginning  of  statehood,  the 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  included  hi  his 
Report  a  plea  for  the  teaching  of  United  States  history 
in  the  common  schools.3  In  1847  tne  University  of 

1  Russell,  in  History  Teacher's  Magazine,  V,  312-315. 

1  See  Reports,  Regents  of  University  of  New  York,  for  years  indicated. 

8  Report,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  1837,  p.  16. 


130  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Michigan  shared  with  Harvard  the  honor  of  introducing 
history  as  an  entrance  requirement.  In  1870  Michigan 
stood  alone  hi  adding  to  the  list  of  entrance  requirements 
American  History. 

A  few  years  after  history  began  to  be  admitted  to 
secondary  schools  it  began  also  to  be  admitted  to  ele- 
mentary schools.  Its  progress  was  in  some  cases 
more  rapid  in  elementary  than  in  secondary  school 
curricula.  In  1826,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  "the 
history  of  the  United  States  was  studied  in  six  towns 
only."  In  1834,  it  constituted  "a  part  of  the  course 
of  instruction  in  one  hundred  and  four  towns."  l  In 
1844,  it  was  reported  as  taught  in  most  of  the  schools 
of  the  entire  state.2  Scattering  references  to  the  con- 
ditions in  other  states  indicate,  in  most  cases,  a  some- 
what later  but  equally  decisive  advance. 

During  the  formative  period  scarcely  any  attempt  was 
made  to  draw  up  a  systematic  program  for  history. 
The  idea  was  to  teach  subjects  in  history  and  not,  as  in 
Germany  and  France,  to  organize  courses  in  history. 
The  subject  for  the  elementary  school  was  American 
history.  "The  history  of  foreign  countries,"  said  the 
New  York  State  Superintendent  of  schools  in  1835, 
"however  desirable  it  may  be,  cannot  ordinarily  enter 

1  Report,  New  York  Superintendent  of  Schools,  1833-1835,  p.  21. 
» Ibid.,  1844,  p.  452. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES  !$! 

into  a  system  of  common  school  education  without 
opening  too  wide  a  field.  It  is  safer  in  general  to  treat 
it  as  a  superfluity,  and  leave  it  to  such  as  have  leisure 
in  after  life."  *  To  such  the  elementary  school  did  for 
many  years  in  fact  leave  it,  partly  because  the  tune 
allowed  for  history  was  too  short  for  any  account  of 
foreign  countries,  and  partly  because  of  a  belief  that 
American  history  was  all  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of 
American  elementary  schools.  The  subject  was  com- 
monly taught  in  the  upper  grades  only,  often  only  in  the 
last  year. 

In  academies  and  high  schools  the  subjects  varied 
widely.  The  work  was  sometimes  confined  to  general 
history  or  to  ancient  history,  sometimes  to  American 
history ;  sometimes  two  or  all  three  of  these  subjects 
were  offered,  sometimes  English  history  was  substituted 
for  one  of  them,  or  added  as  a  fourth  subject.  Other 
subjects  often  listed  separately  were  Grecian  antiquities, 
Roman  antiquities,  mythology,  and,  occasionally,  eccle- 
siastical history.  Foreign  countries  received,  on  the 
whole,  more  attention  than  the  United  States.  In  New 
York,  for  example,  until  about  1860,  general  history 
alone  was  listed  more  frequently  than  United  States 
history.  The  arrangement  of  subjects  in  the  curriculum 
varied  as  widely  as  the  subjects  themselves. 

1  Report,  New  York  Superintendent  of  Schools,  1833-1835,  p.  21. 


132  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Among  the  values  most  frequently  claimed  for  his- 
torical instruction  were  moral  training,  training  for 
citizenship,  and  discipline  of  the  memory,  the  judgment, 
and  the  imagination.  The  moral  and  disciplinary  values 
of  history  were  described  quite  in  the  manner  that  had 
already  become  traditional  in  Europe.  The  ideas  were 
essentially  the  same  as  those  advanced  by  Rollin  in  the 
eighteenth  century.1  The  relation  of  history  to  citizen- 
ship in  a  free  country  presented  a  new  condition  and 
invited  new  forms  of  expression.  Love  of  country, 
loyalty  to  national  ideals,  reverence  for  law,  and  respect 
for  constituted  authority  were  enumerated  quite  in 
the  spirit  of  old-world  tradition.  But  a  different  chord 
was  touched  in  enlarging  on  the  duties  of  free  citizens. 
Every  voter,  it  was  urged,  is  in  effect  called  upon  to  be 
a  statesman,  and  statesmen  need  history  in  a  special 
way  both  for  guidance  and  for  inspiration.  Other  and 
more  general  values  claimed  for  history  were  that  it 
"elevates  the  mind"  and  "enlarges  the  soul,"  opens 
sources  of  amusement  as  well  as  of  profound  thought, 
and  gives  a  taste  for  solid  reading.  It  was  also  asserted, 
but  less  frequently,  that  the  study  of  history  promotes 
sound  religion. 

By  1870  history  appears  to  have  won  fairly  general 
acceptance  as  one  of  the  essential  school  studies.  Its 

1  See  above,  p.  89. 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES  133 

position  in  the  high  school  began  at  about  this  time  to 
be  materially  strengthened  by  a  widening  recognition 
of  history  as  a  requirement  for  entrance  to  college. 
But  for  about  twenty  years  history  continued  to  develop 
substantially  along  the  lines  already  indicated.  A 
committee  of  the  National  Education  Association,  re- 
porting, in  1876,  a  course  of  study  from  the  primary 
school  to  the  university,  probably  represented  the  aver- 
age practice  of  the  day  in  recommending  United  States 
history  as  a  subject  to  be  required  in  elementary  schools 
and  "universal  history  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States"  as  subjects  to  be  required  in  high  schools. 
In  the  better  schools  United  States  history  continued 
to  find  a  place  in  one  or  both  of  the  upper  grades  of  the 
elementary  schools ;  ancient  history,  or  a  brief  course 
in  general  history,  or  both,  in  the  high  school.  Few 
elementary  schools  began  history  before  the  seventh 
grade,  and  fewer  still  admitted  any  European  history. 
The  consequence  for  children  who  left  school  before 
entering  the  seventh  grade,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
majority,  is  at  once  apparent.  Instruction  in  history 
in  the  high  school  might  be  for  a  term,  a  half  year,  or  a' 
year.  In  some  favored  schools  it  might  extend  over 
two  or  more  years  and  include,  in  addition  to  the  courses 
already  indicated,  a  course  in  American  history,  or  a 
course  in  English  history,  or  both. 


134  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

In  1892  the  National  Education  Association  created 
the  Committee  of  Ten  with  instructions  to  organize  con- 
ferences for  the  discussion  of  the  various  subjects  that 
entered  "into  the  programs  of  secondary  schools  in  the 
United  States  and  into  the  requirements  for  admission 
to  college,"  and  to  make  such  recommendations  as  might 
seem  appropriate.  The  Conference  on  History,  Civil 
Government,  and  Political  Economy  met  at  Madison  in 
December,  1892,  and  its  report  placed  before  the  general 
educational  public  for  the  first  time  in  America  a  history 
program  approaching  in  completeness  programs  for 
more  than  fifty  years  familiar  in  Europe.  The  Confer- 
ence asked  for  eight  consecutive  years  of  history,  four  in 
the  elementary  school,  and  four  in  the  high  school,  as 
follows : 

ist  and  2d  years.    Biography  and  mythology. 

3d  year.     American  history  ;  and  elements  of  civil  government. 

4th  year.  Greek  and  Roman  history,  with  their  Oriental  con- 
nections. 

5th  year.  (Beginning  of  high  school.)  French  history.  To 
be  so  taught  as  to  elucidate  the  general  movement 
of  mediaeval  and  modern  history. 

6th  year.  English  history.  To  be  so  taught  as  to  elucidate 
the  general  movement  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
history. 

7th  year.    American  history. 

8th  year.  A  special  period,  studied  in  an  intensive  manner ; 
and  civil  government. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  135 

For  schools  unable  to  adopt  this  arrangement  an 
alternative  course  of  six  years  was  suggested : 

ist  and  2d  years.     Biography  and  mythology. 

3d  year.    American  history,  and  civil  government. 

4th  year.  (Beginning  of  high  school.)  Greek  and  Roman  his- 
tory, with  their  Oriental  connections. 

5th  year.  English  history.  To  be  so  taught  as  to  elucidate 
the  general  movement  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
history. 

6th  year.    American  history  and  civil  government. 

The  Conference  further  resolved  that  "in  no  year  of 
either  course  ought  the  time  devoted  to  these  subjects 
to  be  less  than  the  equivalent  of  three  forty-minute 
periods  per  week  throughout  the  year."  l 

The  elementary  school,  unfortunately,  was  beyond 
the  province  of  the  Committee  of  Ten.  The  vital  prin- 
ciple of  consecutive  study  could,  therefore,  not  be  con- 
sidered in  the  form  proposed.  It  proved  difficult  to 
apply  even  for  the  high  school.  The  history  conference 
was  only  one  of  nine  conferences.  When  the  conclusions 
of  all  were  tabulated,  it  appeared  that  to  carry  all  the 
recommendations  into  effect  would  require  22  instruc- 
tion periods  per  week  in  the  first  year  of  the  high  school, 
37^  in  the  second,  35  in  the  third,  and  37!  in  the  fourth. 
The  Committee  adopted  twenty  periods  per  week  as  a 
desirable  maximum  and  arranged  four  different  courses 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  p.  163. 


136  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

of  study.  The  number  of  periods  per  week  allotted  to 
history  in  the  various  courses  is  shown  in  the  following 
table : 

YEAR       CLASSICAL  LATIN  SCIENTIFIC  MODERN  LANGUAGES  ENGLISH 

14  4  44 

23  O  04 

30  2  24 

41  3  3  3  32 

The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  indicated  clearly 
the  possibility  of  more  history  for  the  high  school.  It 
indicated  also  a  condition  that  has  puzzled  makers  of 
programs  down  to  the  present  day.  History  for  all  high 
school  pupils  in  every  year  of  the  course  was  apparently 
beyond  hope  of  attainment.  The  Committee  proposed 
four  years  for  the  English  course  only.  In  the  other 
three  courses  there  were  to  be  two  years  of  required 
history  and  one  year  of  elective  history.  Here  lay  the 
difficulty.  What  history  was  best  for  those  who  would 
satisfy  only  the  minimum  requirement?  What  history 
was  best  for  those  who  would  elect  an  additional  year  ? 
Either  question  alone  might  have  been  answered  with 
some  degree  of  assurance.  The  Madison  Conference 
had,  indeed,  already  answered  the  second  question: 
ist  year,  ancient  history;  2d  year,  English  history; 

1  Except  in  the  English  course,  fourth  year  pupils  were  offered  a  choice 
between  history  and  mathematics. 
*  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  p.  46-47. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES  137 

3d  year,  American  history  and  government.  But  the 
question  of  what  was  best  for  a  three  years'  course  could 
not  be  separated  from  the  question  of  what  was  best 
for  a  two  years'  course.  The  arrangement  proposed 
by  the  Conference  would  leave  pupils  who  failed  to 
elect  the  third  year's  work  strangers  in  their  own  coun- 
try. The  subjects  might  of  course  be  shifted :  ist  year, 
English  history;  2d  year,  American  history;  3d  year, 
ancient  history ;  or,  ist  year,  ancient  history;  2d  year, 
American  history;  3d  year,  English  history.  But 
ancient  history  in  the  third  year,  apart  from  any  ques- 
tion of  orderly  sequence,  would  obviously  not  be  fair  to 
the  classical  course.  English  history  in  the  third  year 
would,  for  the  two  years'  course,  leave  an  unspanned 
gap  between  ancient  history  and  American  history,  and, 
for  the  three  years'  course,  erect  a  span  after  the  passage. 
For  several  years  the  problem  thus  presented  was  left 
to  the  initiative  of  individual  schools  for  solution. 
Cooperative  efforts  were,  in  the  meantime,  directed  to 
increasing  the  amount  rather  than  to  specifying  the  kind 
of  history.  The  most  likely  avenue  of  approach  seemed 
to  be  that  of  college  entrance  requirements.  Colleges 
had  since  1870  been  steadily  extending  the  range  of  the 
history  requirement.  In  1895,  out  of  a  total  of  475  uni- 
versities and  colleges  investigated  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  306  required  American  history; 


138  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

127,  general  history;  112,  Greek  history;  n 6,  Roman 
history ;  57,  English  history ;  9,  state  and  local  history ; 
and  i,  French  and  German  history.1  These  conditions 
were  hi  part  the  source,  and  in  part  the  reflection,  of  a 
larger  interest  in  history  in  the  high  schools.  They 
had  developed  in  response  to  local  opinion  and  local 
practice  and  were  now  becoming  somewhat  unmanage- 
able. Most  high  schools  had  to  consider  a  variety  of 
college  requirements  and  taught  in  consequence,  not  a 
carefully  arranged  course  in  history,  but,  as  of  old, 
merely  subjects  in  history.  Most  of  the  colleges  had 
to  consider  a  variety  of  preparation  for  college  work  in 
history  and  prescribed  in  consequence  college  courses 
that  were  themselves  preparatory.  It  would  clearly 
be  to  the  advantage  both  of  high  schools  and  of  col- 
leges to  encourage  at  least  some  degree  of  uniformity. 
The  question  was  considered  in  1895  by  a  committee  of 
the  New  England  Association  of  Colleges  and  Prepara- 
tory Schools,  and  in  1896  by  a  conference,  representing 
six  leading  eastern  universities,  held  at  Columbia. 

The  New  England  Committee  suggested  seven  topics, 
any  two  of  which,  on  the  assumption  that  each  had 
been  pursued  three  periods  a  week  for  a  year,  were  to 
constitute  a  subject  for  entrance.  The  colleges  were 
further  "earnestly  requested  to  accept  any  additional 

1  Report,  Commissioner  of  Education,  1896-1897,  p.  468. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  139 

topic  or  topics  from  the  list  as  additional  preparation 
for  entrance  or  for  advanced  standing."  The  topics 
were  : 

1.  The  History  of  Greece,  with  special  reference  to  Greek  life, 

literature,  and  art. 

2.  The  History  of  Rome ;  the  Republic  and  Empire,  and  Teu- 

tonic outgrowths  to  800  A.D. 

f  To  be  so  taught  as  to  elucidate  the  general 

3.  German  History 

movement  of  mediaeval   and   modern 


4.   French  History 

(     his 


history. 

5.  English  History,  with  special  reference  to  social  and  political 

development. 

6.  American  History,  with  the  elements  of  Civil  Government. 

7.  A  detailed  study  of  a  limited  period  pursued  in  an  intensive 

manner.1 

The  New  England  Association  adopted  these  sugges- 
tions with  one  important  modification.  The  attempt,  in 
the  second  topic,  to  bring  Roman  history  into  connec- 
tion with  general  European  history,  by  going  beyond  the 
traditional  "Fall"  of  476  A.D.,  encountered  opposition 
from  secondary-school  men  on  the  ground  that  so 
extended  a  period  could  not  be  covered  in  a  single  year. 
The  Association  heeded  the  protest  and  substituted  for 
800  A.D.  the  accession  of  Cornmodus.2 

The  Columbia  Conference  accepted  the  general  prin- 
ciple which  had  been  laid  down  by  the  New  England 

1  Publication  No.  5,  New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  13. 
8  School  Review  III,  619-631. 


140  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

Committee,  but  changed  the  topics  somewhat  and 
arranged  them  in  two  groups.  In  the  first  group  were 
four  topics  any  two  of  which,  on  the  assumption  that 
each  had  been  pursued  three  periods  a  week  for  a  year, 
were  to  be  accepted  for  entrance.  The  topics  were: 

1.  The  History  of  Greece  to  the  death  of  Alexander,  with  due 

reference  to  Greek  life,  literature,  and  art. 

2.  The  History  of  Rome  to  the  accession  of  Commodus,  with 

due  reference  to  literature  and  government. 

3.  English  History,  with  due  reference  to  social  and  political 

development. 

4.  American  History,  with  the  elements  of  civil  government. 

In  the  second  group  were  four  topics  any  one  of  which, 
on  the  assumption  that  it  had  been  pursued  three  periods 
a  week  for  two  years,  was  to  be  accepted  either  as 
additional  preparation  for  entrance  or  for  advanced 
standing.  The  topics  were: 

1.  Greek  and  Roman  History  for  those  who  have  offered  Eng- 

lish History  and  American  History  as  an  elementary 
subject. 

2.  English  History  and  American  History  for  those  who  have 

offered  Greek  and  Roman  History  as  an  elementary 
subject. 

3.  The  History  of  Europe  from  the  Germanic  Invasions  to  the 

beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

4.  A  year's  study  of  any  of  the  elementary  fields  not  already 

offered  as  an  elementary  subject,  combined  with  a  year's 
detailed  study  of  a  limited  period  within  that  field.1 
1  Publication  No.  5,  New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  16, 1 7. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  141 

Within  a  year  Cornell,  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Tufts  College  accepted  the  recommendations 
of  the  Columbia  Conference.  Dartmouth  and  Mount 
Holyoke  soon  followed^  and  Harvard  also  accepted  them 
provisionally.  By  1900  a  number  of  other  colleges  and 
universities  had  them  under  consideration. 

The  effect  upon  the  high  schools,  as  was  foreseen  and 
intended,  was  to  increase  in  a  marked  degree  the  amount 
of  historical  instruction.  Objections  to  the  new  arrange- 
ment came  chiefly  from  teachers  of  the  classics.  In 
their  opinion,  to  increase  the  offering  in  history  would 
lead  inevitably  to  a  decrease  in  the  attention  devoted  to 
Greek  and  Roman  history.  Their  influence  was  to  some 
extent  felt  in  the  discussions  of  the  New  England  Asso- 
ciation. It  secured  from  the  Columbia  Conference  the 
definite  statement  that  "it  is  very  desirable  that  Greek 
and  Roman  history  be  offered  as  a  part  of  the  preparation 
of  every  candidate,"  and  the  recommendation  that  these 
two  topics  be  named  wherever  a  college  "finds  it  neces- 
sary to  specify  the  particular  subjects  to  be  required."  l 

In  the  meantime,  the  Committee  on  College  Entrance 
Requirements,  authorized  in  1895  by  the  National 
Education  Association,  through  its  Departments  of 
Secondary  and  of  Higher  Education,  had  been  seeking 
the  cooperation  of  other  organizations  in  an  attempt  to 

1  Publication  No.  5,  New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  16. 


142  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

deal  with  the  entire  question.  The  response  of  the 
American  Historical  Association  was  the  appointment 
in  December,  1896,  of  the  Committee  of  Seven.  To 
that  committee,  however,  according  to  the  report  made 
in  1899,  even  before  the  members  "began  seriously  to 
consider  what  work  was  to  be  done,  it  became  apparent 
that  only  a  thorough  study  would  be  profitable,  that 
general  conclusions  or  recommendations,  even  on  such 
a  question  as  that  of  college  entrance  requirements, 
could  not  be  made  without  an  examination  of  the  whole 
field  and  a  consideration  of  many  fundamental  princi- 
ples, or  without  ascertaining  what  was  now  doing  in 
the  high  schools  and  academies  of  the  country." 

"Before  this  work  was  undertaken,"  continues  the 
report,  "  there  had  not  been  any  systematic  attempt  of 
this  kind;  nor  had  there  been  any  prolonged  effort  by 
any  national  association  to  present  the  claims  of  history 
or  to  set  before  the  schoolmen  a  statement  of  what  might 
be  considered  the  value  of  historical  study  and  the  place 
which  it  should  occupy  in  the  school  program.  We  do 
not  leave  out  of  consideration  the  work  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ten,  nor  do  we  underestimate  the  value  or  the 
effect  of  the  able  and  highly  interesting  report  of  the 
Madison  Conference  on  History,  Civil  Government, 
and  Economics;  and  we  do  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  historical  instruction  in  the  secondary  schools  had 


IN  THE   UNITED    STATES  143 

often  been  discussed  in  pedagogical  conferences  and 
teachers'  associations.  Before  we  began  our  work,  it 
was  plain  that  there  was  an  awakening  interest  in  this 
whole  subject,  and  the  time  seemed  to  be  at  hand  when 
a  systematic  effort  would  meet  with  response  and  pro- 
duce results.  But  in  spite  of  all  that  had  been  done, 
and  in  spite  of  this  awakened  interest,  there  was  no 
recognized  consensus  of  opinion  in  the  country  at  large, 
not  one  generally  accepted  judgment,  not  even  one  well- 
known  point  of  agreement,  which  would  serve  as  a  be- 
ginning for  a  consideration  of  the  place  of  history  in  the 
high  school  curriculum.  Such  a  statement  cannot  be 
made  concerning  any  other  subject  commonly  taught 
in  the  secondary  schools."  l 

The  Committee,  after  a  careful  consideration  of  pro- 
grams and  conditions  both  in  the  United  States  and  in 
Europe,  recommended  a  four  years'  course  in  history, 
as  follows : 

First  year.    Ancient  History  to  800  A.D.,  or  814,  or  843. 
Second  year.     Mediaeval  and  Modern  European  History. 
Third  year.    English  History. 
Fourth  year.    American  History  and  Civil  Government. 

For  a  three  years'  course  the  committee  suggested 
either  "any  three  of  the  above  blocks"  or  such  modifi- 
cations as  the  following: 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  2-3. 


144  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

B 

First  or  second  year.    Ancient  History  to  800  A.D. 

Second  or  third  year.  English  History,  with  special  reference  to 
the  chief  events  in  the  history  of  con- 
tinental Europe. 

Third  or  fourth  year.    American  History  and  Civil  Government. 

C 

\ 

First  or  second  year.     Ancient  History  to  800  A.D. 

Second  or  third  year.     Mediaeval  and  Modern  European  History. 

Third  or  fourth  year.     American  History,  with  a  consideration 

of  the  chief  events  in  the  history  of 

England.1 

In  the  adjustment  of  college  entrance  requirements 
the  Committee  laid  down  two  conditions  as  essential : 

(1)  "that  the  fundamental  scope  and  purpose  of  the 
major  part  of  the  secondary  schools  be  regarded ; "  and 

(2)  "  that  such  elasticity  be  allowed  that  schools  may  fit 
for  college  and  yet  adapt  themselves  to  some  extent  to 
local  environment  and  local  needs."    A  unit  of  history 
was  defined  as  "one  year  of  historical  work  wherein  the 
study  is  given  five  times  a  week  or  two  years  of  historical 
work  wherein  the  study  is  given  three  times  per  week." 
For  colleges  with  complete  options  in  entrance  require- 
ments, colleges,  that  is,  which  accepted  "a  given  number 
of  years'  work,   or  units,   without  prescribing  special 
subjects  of  study,"  the  Committee  recommended  four 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  134-135. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  145 

units  of  history  "as  an  equivalent  for  a  like  amount  of 
work  in  other  subjects,"  likewise  one,  two,  or  three  units ; 
for  colleges  that  definitely  prescribed  some  subjects, 
and  required  in  addition  a  certain  number  of  other  sub- 
jects to  be  chosen  from  a  list  of  options,  one  unit  of 
history  in  the  list  of  prescribed  studies,  ana  one,  two,  or 
three  units  in  the  list  of  optional  studies;  for  colleges 
with  "several  distinct  courses  of  study  leading  to  differ- 
ent degrees,"  and  distinct  groups  of  entrance  require- 
ments, one  unit  of  history  for  the  classical  course,  one 
for  the  Latin,  two  units  for  the  scientific,  and  three  for 
the  English,  the  offerings  in  each  case  to  be  taken  from 
the  blocks  in  the  four  years'  course  proposed  by  the  Com- 
mittee.1 

The  National  Education  Association  indorsed  these 
recommendations,  but  with  the  proviso  that  one  year 
of  American  history  and  government  should  be  accepted 
as  a  requirement  for  admission  by  all  colleges,  and  a 
further  resolution  "that  colleges  should  accept,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  one  year  of  United  States  history  and  civil 
government  already  recommended,  at  least  one  half 
year  of  intensive  study  of  some  period  of  history,  espe- 
cially of  the  United  States."2 

The  Committee  of  Seven  devoted  ten  pages  to  a  dis- 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  121,  123. 

2  Proceedings,  National  Education  Association,  1899,  p.  648,  665. 


146  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

cussion  of  the  value  of  historical  study.  The  chief  ad- 
vance over  earlier  ideas  was  in  the  emphasis  placed 
upon  history  as  an  aid  "in  developing  what  is  sometimes 
called  the  scientific  habit  of  mind  and  thought,"  and 
upon  "the  training  which  pupils  receive  in  the  handling 
of  books."  1  The  other  claims  were  essentially  those 
familiar  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  except 
that  nothing  was  said  of  historical  instruction  as  a  factor 
in  religious  training.  The  proportions  were,  however, 
somewhat  different.  History  as  an  aid  in  cultivating  the 
judgment  received  more  attention  than  history  as  an  aid 
in  forming  character.  The  treatment  of  the  latter  can 
practically  be  summed  up  in  a  sentence.  "We  may 
venture  to  suggest,"  said  the  Committee,  "that  character 
is  of  even  greater  value  than  culture."  2 

The  blocks  recommended  by  the  Committee  of 
Seven  became,  within  a  few  years,  the  units  most  gen- 
erally recognized  both  hi  high  school  courses  of  study 
and  in  requirements  for  entrance  to  college.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  schools  offered  all  of  the  blocks, 
sometimes  in  the  order  proposed  by  the  Committee, 
sometimes  with  English  history  in  the  second  year  and 
mediaeval  and  modern  European  history  in  the  third 
year.  A  still  greater  number  offered  three  of  the  blocks, 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  23,  25. 
9  Ibid.,  35. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  147 

omitting,  as  a  rule,  English  history.  But  the  schools 
that  offered  all  the  blocks  in  relatively  few  instances 
required  all  for  graduation.  Some  of  them  required  no 
history  at  all  and  offered  the  blocks  merely  as  electives ; 
some  of  them  required  one  block,  some  two  blocks,  some 
three  blocks,  and  offered  the  remainder  as  electives. 
The  schools  that  offered  three  of  the  blocks  in  a  larger 
proportion  of  instances  required  all  three,  but  a  con- 
siderable fraction  required  only  two  blocks,  a  smaller 
fraction  only  one  block,  and  in  some  cases  all  three 
blocks  were  elective.1 

There  was  from  the  first  some  dissatisfaction  with 
the  blocks  proposed  by  the  Committee.  Since  ancient 
history  was  to  be  followed  by  mediaeval  and  modern 
European  history  the  extension  of  the  former  to  800  A.D. 
seemed  to  some  unnecessary  and  unwise.  Ancient 
and  mediaeval  history,  in  the  opinion  of  others,  had  a 
disproportionate  share  of  time,  and  English  history 
ought,  it  was  sometimes  said,  to  come  before  general 
European  history.  But  granting  that  either  the  four 
blocks  or  the  three  blocks,  as  presented  by  the  Com- 
mittee, made  an  acceptable  course,  the  fact  remained 
that  most  pupils  must  leave  the  high  schools  with  not 
more  than  two  years  of  history,  and  many  with  only 

1  For  a  survey  of  conditions  in  1009  see  Indiana  University  Bulletin, 
September,  1009. 


148  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

one  year  of  history.  Did  any  one  of  the  four  blocks,  or 
any  two  of  them,  constitute  the  best  arrangement  that 
could  be  made  for  so  short  a  course  ?  The  answer  of  the 
Committee  was  in  the  affirmative.  For  those  who  might 
take  a  different  view  there  was  merely  a  somewhat  reluc- 
tant suggestion  of  modes  of  compressing  English  and 
American  history,  or  English  and  European  history, 
into  a  single  year.1  But  textbook  writers  almost  uni- 
versally adopted  the  regular  blocks,  and  most  teachers, 
of  necessity,  followed  the  textbooks. 

In  December,  1907,  on  the  presentation  of  a  formal 
request  from  the  Headmasters'  Association  for  changes 
in  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  Seven,  the 
American  Historical  Association  authorized  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Committee  of  Five  "to  determine  what 
modifications,  if  any,  were  needed."  The  result  was 
essentially  a  reargument  of  the  case  presented  by  the 
Committee  of  Seven,  but  two  of  the  four  blocks  were 
changed  materially  with  a  view  to  greater  emphasis 
upon  modern  history.  The  Committee  of  Five  did  not 
advocate  "an  immediate  change  in  every  school,  the 
universal  abandonment  of  the  plan  of  the  Committee 
of  Seven,  and  the  immediate  substitution  of  a  new  cur- 
riculum." "We  content  ourselves,"  said  the  Committee 
of  Five,  "first,  with  advising  a  change  in  emphasis  when 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  43. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 


149 


the  plan  of  the  Committee  of  Seven  does  not  seem  fea- 
sible ;  and  second,  by  the  proposal  of  a  course  which  we 
believe  to  be  on  the  whole  better  than  the  old,  and  which 
we  think  will  suit  the  needs  of  schools  ready  to  take  up 
seriously  the  study  of  modern  history."  l  The  new 
course  was  as  follows : 

First  Year.  Ancient  history  to  800  A.D.  or  thereabouts,  the 
events  of  the  last  five  hundred  years  to  be 
passed  over  rapidly. 

Second  Year.  English  history,  beginning  with  a  brief  statement 
of  England's  connection  with  the  ancient 
world.  The  work  should  trace  the  main  line 
of  English  development  to  about  1760,  in- 
clude as  far  as  possible  or  convenient  the  chief 
facts  of  general  European  history,  especially 
before  the  seventeenth  century,  and  give 
something  of  the  colonial  history  of  America. 

Third  Year.  Modern  European  history,  including  such  intro- 
ductory matter  concerning  later  mediaeval  in- 
stitutions and  the  beginnings  of  the  modern 
age  as  seems  wise  or  desirable,  and  giving  a 
suitable  treatment  of  English  history  from 
1760. 

Fourth  Year.  American  history  and  government,  arranged  on 
such  a  basis  that  some  time  may  be  secured 
for  the  separate  study  of  government.2 

The  majority  of  schools  apparently  still  find  the  plan 
of  the  Committee  of  Seven  feasible  and  will  no  doubt 


1  Report,  Committee  of  Five,  p.  2,  55,  56. 


*  Ibid.,  64. 


TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 


continue  to  find  it  feasible  until  the  colleges  introduce 
other  units  into  their  list  of  entrance  requirements. 
Reports  received  in  1914  from  about  six  hundred  schools 
seemed  to  indicate  that  about  forty  of  these  schools 
were  disregarding  altogether  the  block  system.  Of  the 
remainder,  510  offered  ancient  history;  456,  European 
history;  348,  English  history;  and  473,  American 
history.  The  subjects  were  distributed  as  follows : 


FIRST  YEAR 

SECOND 
YEAR 

THIRD 
YEAR 

FOURTH 
YEAR 

1 

J 

1 

i 

1 

• 

1 

I 

s? 

I 

sr 

* 

o1 

V 

% 

| 

8 

M 

w 

M 

w 

M 

3 

m 

w 

Ancient  History  .     .     . 

198 

93 

133 

59 

18 

5 

3 

I 

European  History    .     . 

18 

3 

179 

96 

92 

60 

5 

3 

English  History  .    .     . 

3i 

ii 

39 

22 

103 

118 

ii 

13 

American  History     .    . 

ii 

3 

ii 

2 

52 

19 

305 

70 

The  increase  of  interest  in  history  after  1892  extended 
also  to  the  elementary  school.  The  Committee  of 
Fifteen  on  elementary  education,  reporting  to  the  De- 
partment of  Superintendence  of  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association  in  1895,  recommended  oral  lessons 
in  general  history  and  biography,  sixty  minutes  a  week, 
throughout  the  eight  years  of  the  elementary  course.1 
These  lessons  were  to  "proceed  from  the  native  land 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Fifteen,  93. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  151 

first  to  England,  the  parent  country,  and  then  to  the 
classic  civilizations  (Greece  and  Rome  being,  so  to  speak, 
the  grandparent  countries  of  the  American  colonies)." 1 

In  the  seventh  year  and  the  first  half  of  the  eighth 
there  were  to  be,  in  addition  to  the  oral  lessons  on 
general  history,  five  textbook  lessons  a  week  on  United 
States  history  up  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
and  in  the  second  half  of  the  eighth  year  five  lessons  a 
week  on  the  Constitution.  "The  formation  of  the 
Constitution,  and  a  brief  study  of  the  salient  features 
of  the  Constitution  itself,"  says  the  report,  "conclude 
the  study  of  the  portion  of  the  history  of  the  United 
States  that  is  sufficiently  remote  to  be  treated  after  the 
manner  of  an  educational  classic."  The  later  epochs 
seemed  to  the  Committee  "not  so  well  fitted  for  intensive 
study  in  school  as  the  already  classic  period  of  our  his- 
tory," and  were  left  to  be  read  at  home ! 2  To  this 
proposition,  however,  not  all  of  the  members  subscribed. 

The  Committee  of  Twelve  on  rural  schools,  appointed 
at  the  meeting  of  the  National  Education  Association 
in  1895,  proposed  a  program  for  history  strongly  sugges- 
tive of  French  influence,  both  in  the  grouping  of  classes 
and  in  the  treatment  of  materials.3  The  plan  was  as 

follows : 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Fifteen,  70. 

2  Ibid.,  66. 

*  For  outline  of  French  program  see  above,  p.  124. 


152  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Group  I.     (Age,    5-  7)  Stories   from   biography,   history,   and 

travels.     Explanation  of  pictures. 
Group  II.    (Age,    7-  9)  Current    Events.    Stories   of   eminent 

characters  and  memorable  events. 
Group  III.    (Age,    o-n)  Extension  of  II.    Readings  in  United 

States  history. 

Group  IV.     (Age,  1 1-13)  Selected  epochs  of  general  history,  with 

study  of  leading  historical  characters.1 

Interest  in  the  elementary  history  program,  usually 
including  civics,  was  further  stimulated  and  directed 
by  individual  contributions.  Gordy  and  Twitchell 
applied  the  concentric  circles  idea  to  American  history 
and  carried  it  far  beyond  the  limit  set  in  Europe.  Euro- 
pean programs  of  the  concentric  type  had  two  or  three 
surveys  of  the  field.  Gordy  and  Twitchell  had  seven 
surveys  of  American  history,  one  in  each  of  the  first  six 
grades,  and  one  running  through  the  two  upper  grades.2 
Miss  Lucy  M.  Salmon,  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Seven,  in  her  Study  of  History  Below  the  Secondary  School, 
published  as  an  appendix  to  the  report  of  the  Committee, 
proposed  that  history  should  begin  in  the  third  grade. 
The  materials  were  to  be  stories  from  the  Iliad,  the 
Odyssey,  the  ^Enead,  the  sagas,  the  Niebelungen  Lied, 
and  stories  of  King  Arthur,  Roland  and  Hiawatha. 
For  the  fourth  grade  there  were  biographies  of  characters 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Twelve,  174-175. 

*  Gordy  and  Twitchell,  Pathfinder  in  American  History,  Boston,  1892- 
1893. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES  153 

prominent  in  Europe  and  America.  For  the  grades 
above  the  fourth  the  arrangement  was  the  same  as  that 
proposed  by  the  Committee  of  Seven  for  the  four  years' 
course  in  the  high  school.  Numerous  suggestions,  for 
the  most  part  inspired  by  the  culture-epoch  theory, 
came  from  teachers  in  normal  schools.  Miss  Emily 
J.  Rice  proposed  the  correlation  of  history  and  literature 
with  such  constructive  activities  as  the  building  of 
models  of  primitive  houses  and  the  reproduction  of  primi- 
tive arts  and  inventions.1  Charles  A.  McMurry  pro- 
posed a  combination  of  topics  in  European  and  American 
Tiistory  enriched  by  readings  from  literature.2  Kemp 
proposed  for  the  first  grade  the  primitive  Aryans ;  for 
the  second  grade  the  ancient  Egyptians,  Hebrews,  and 
Phoenicians;  for  the  third  grade  the  Greeks;  for  the 
fourth  grade  the  Romans ;  for  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades 
English  history,  and  for  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades 
American  history.3  Bliss  proposed  primitive  civilization 
for  the  first  four  grades,  selected  topics  in  history  and 
legend  from  Charlemagne  to  Napoleon  for  the  fifth  and 
sixth  grades,  and  American  history,  with  some  references 
to  Europe,  for  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades.4 
All  of  these  programs  have  stood  the  test  of  some  actual 

1  Course  of  Study  in  History  and  Literature,  Chicago,  1898. 
1  Special  Method  in  History,  New  York,  1904,  p.  238-268. 
*  E.  W.  Kemp,  An  Outline  of  History  for  the  Grades. 
4  Bliss,  History  in  tlte  Elementary  Schools,  New  York,  1911. 


154  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

experience,  but  the  extent  to  which  they  have  been 
applied  is  difficult  to  determine.  Of  fifty-three  repre- 
sentative American  cities,  investigated  in  1909,  nearly 
one  half  had  American  history  from  the  fifth  grade  on 
through  the  eighth ;  one  had  English  history  in  the  fifth 
grade,  6  in  the  sixth  grade,  19  in  the  seventh  grade,  and 

7  in  the  eighth  grade ;  one  had  general  history  in  the  fifth 
grade,  5  in  the  sixth  grade,  n  in  the  seventh  grade,  and 
6  in  the  eighth  grade ;  one  had  French  history  in  the  fifth, 
sixth,  and  seventh  grades ;  4  had  local  history  in  the  fifth 
grade,  9  in  the  sixth  grade,  6  in  the  seventh  grade,  and 

8  in  the  eighth  grade. 

Such  were  the  conditions  when,  in  1909,  the  report  of 
the  Committee  of  Eight  appeared.  This  Committee, 
which  had  been  appointed  four  years  earlier  by  the 
American  Historical  Association,  undertook  to  do  for 
history  in  the  elementary  school  what  the  Committee 
of  Seven  had  accomplished  for  history  in  the  secondary 
school.  The  Committee  recognized  the  need  on  the 
part  of  elementary  teachers  of  special  guidance  and 
presented,  in  addition  to  suggestions  on  modes  of  treat- 
ment, a  full  syllabus  of  history  for  an  eight  years'  course, 
including  references  to  books.  The  Committee  also 
made  special  suggestions  for  the  teaching  of  civics  from 
the  fifth  grade  on  through  the  eighth.  The  program 
was  as  follows : 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES 


155 


First  grade.  Indian  life.  Stories  connected  with  Thanksgiving 
day  and  Washington's  birthday.  Stories  con- 
nected with  local  events. 

Second  grade.  Indian  life.  Thanksgiving  day.  Washington's 
birthday.  Local  events.  Memorial  day. 

Third  grade  Heroes  of  other  times :  Joseph,  Moses,  David, 
Ulysses,  and  so  on  to  Columbus.  The  In- 
dians. Independence  day. 

Fourth  grade.  Historical  scenes  and  persons  in  American  his- 
tory, colonial  period. 

Fifth  grade.  Historical  scenes  and  persons  in  American  his- 
tory continued.  Great  industries  of  the  pres- 
ent. 

Sixth  grade.  European  background  of  American  history. 
Selected  topics  from  Greek,  Roman,  and  Eu- 
ropean history  to  the  end  of  Raleigh's  colonial 
enterprises  in  America. 

Seventh  grade.  American  history  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution. 
European  background  continued. 

Eighth  grade.  American  history  since  the  Revolution.  Great 
events  in  European  history. 

The  surveys  of  history  programs  in  this  and  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  inevitably  invite  comparison  and  raise 
questions  somewhat  disquieting  to  American  teachers. 
The  position  of  history  in  the  schools  of  the  United  States 
is,  it  is  clear,  far  less  favorable  than  its  position  in  the 
schools  of  continental  Europe.  In  the  latter,  history 
forms  almost  invariably  a  coherent,  continuous  course 
required  of  all  pupils.  The  preparatory  stages  are 
completed  at  an  age  two  or  three  years  earlier  than  in 


156  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

the  United  States.  In  the  secondary  schools  of  Ger- 
many, Austria,  and  France,  ancient  history  is  presented 
to  children  of  ten  or  eleven  about  as  systematically  as  it 
is  presented  in  the  first  year  of  American  high  schools. 
In  the  elementary  schools  of  the  same  countries,  national 
history  is  treated  about  as  systematically  for  children  of 
ten  or  eleven  as  it  is  treated  in  the  United  States  for  chil- 
dren of  twelve  or  thirteen.  The  history  programs  of 
continental  Europe  are,  as  a  rule,  more  skillfully  organ- 
ized than  the  history  programs  of  the  United  States, 
and  leave  more  connected  impressions  of  history.  These 
differences  are  indicated  by  the  bare  outlines  to  which 
the  present  description  has  of  necessity  been  limited. 
They  would  be  more  apparent  if  there  were  space  for 
details. 

The  problem  presented  to  makers  of  history  programs 
is  more  difficult  in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe. 
There  is  with  us  no  central  authority  to  impose  programs 
upon  the  country  as  a  whole,  Our  organization  of  sec- 
ondary education  differs  radically  from  that  of  Europe. 
A  Frenchman,  some  years  ago,  discussing  at  a  conference 
in  Paris  the  teaching  of  history  in  the  secondary  schools 
of  the  United  States,  began  his  address  with  the  remark 
that  there  were  no  secondary  schools  in  the  United  States, 
and  then  proceeded  to  give  an  account  of  the  teach- 
ing of  history  in  American  colleges  as  the  nearest  equiv- 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES  157 

alent  of  the  French  lycees.1  The  work  of  secondary 
schools  in  Europe  does,  as  already  pointed  out,  usually 
include  the  equivalent  of  our  first  two  years  of  college. 
But  it  includes  also  grades  of  instruction  classed  in  the 
United  States  as  elementary,  and  in  its  preparatory 
classes,  even  the  lowest  grades  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion. The  course  in  history  can,  therefore,  be  planned 
for  a  continuous  period,  ranging  in  boys'  schools  from 
eight  to  twelve  years,  and  in  girls'  schools  from  five  to 
ten  years.  A  similar  unit  might  be  formed  in  the 
United  States  by  including  in  one  view  history  for  both 
the  elementary  school  and  the  high  school.  But  since 
the  Madison  Conference  this  has  not  been  seriously 
attempted.  The  elementary  school  has  formed  one 
unit,  the  high  school  another.  Even  if  the  two  could 
be  combined,  the  conditions  would  be  less  favorable 
than  in  Europe.  In  Europe  programs  for  secondary 
schools  can  be  formulated  on  the  assumption  that 
pupils  are  qualified  for  serious  study.  Those  who  lack 
either  taste  or  ability  for  learning  will  presumably  not  be 
encouraged  tq  remain.  Our  general  theory  has  been 
that  classes  and  masses  do  not  exist,  that  there  should 
be  one  kind  of  instruction  good  alike  for  those  who 
have  the  desire  and  the  ability  to  learn  and  for  those  who 
.have  not,  good  alike  for  boys  and  for  girls,  good  alike 

1  Conference  du  Musee  Ptdagogique,  1907,  p.  99. 


158  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

for  those  who  drop  out  at  the  end  of  the  elementary 
period,  or  earlier,  and  for  those  who  go  on  to  the  high 
school. 

Under  the  circumstances  a  certain  conservatism  in  the 
planning  of  history  programs  for  American  schools  is  to 
be  expected.  One  of  the  first  decisions  of  the  Madison 
Conference  was  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  form 
an  ideal  program.  "The  Conference  was  unanimously 
of  the  opinion  that  it  would  suggest  nothing  that  was  not 
already  being  done  in  some  good  schools."  x  A  similar 
spirit  seems  to  have  dominated  all  cooperative  efforts 
to  improve  the  history  program  for  American  schools. 
Very  considerable  changes  have,  it  is  true,  from  time 
to  time  been  proposed.  Textbooks  had  to  be  rewritten 
to  conform  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee 
of  Seven.  They  are  now  being  rewritten  to  conform  to 
the  recommendations  of  the  Committees  of  Eight  and 
of  Five.  But  all  of  these  committees  sought  precedents 
in  actual  American  practice. 

The  history  program  cannot  escape  the  limitations 
imposed  by  our  general  system  of  school  organization. 
But  in  some  other  respects  it  is  barely  possible  that  our 
committees  have  been  moved  bv  an  excess  of  cau- 
tion. In  dealing  with  a  subject  like  history  it  is  barely 
possible  that  an  ideal  course  of  eight  years  for  the  ele- 
1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  167. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  159 

mentary  school,  or  of  four  years  for  the  high  school, 
would  be  no  more  difficult  to  establish  than  courses  of 
eight  or  of  four  years,  confessedly  not  ideal.  To  induce 
Nebraska  or  California  to  do  what  some  good  schools  in 
Massachusetts  or  New  York  are  already  doing,  to  induce 
Massachusetts  or  New  York  to  do  what  some  good 
schools  in  Nebraska  or  California  are  already  doing  may, 
after  all,  involve  difficulties  equal  to  those  of  inducing 
them  to  examine  a  history  program  on  its  merits.  Since 
textbooks  are  with  us  the  all-important  guide  in  his- 
torical instruction,  and  since  publishers  have  shown 
the  utmost  goodwill  in  meeting  new  demands,  it  would 
seem,  on  the  whole,  entirely  safe  for  any  committee  likely 
to  be  authorized  by  the  American  Historical  Association 
to  walk  in  the  light  of  its  own  best  judgment  as  to  what 
an  eight  years'  course  or  a  four  years'  course  ought 
really  to  be. 

At  the  present  time  history  seems  to  be  losing  rather 
than  gaining  in  favor  with  school  administrators.  The 
demand  is  for  social  studies  of  direct  and  immediate 
concern  to  individual  communities.  Questions  relating 
to  public  health,  to  housing  and  homes,  to  good  roads, 
and  the  like,  in  the  present,  are  coming  to  be  viewed  as 
of  greater  importance  than  questions  relating  to  how 
people  lived  in  the  past.  The  educational  perspective 
is  rapidly  changing.  It  is  becoming  increasingly  clear 


160  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

that  children  should  know  something  about  the  duties 
of  the  garbage  collector  and  the  gas  inspector;  it  is 
becoming  less  clear  that  they  should  know  something 
about  the  deeds  of  Alexander  and  of  Charlemagne. 
Attention  is  now  being  focused  more  definitely  than 
ever  before  upon  vital  present  problems,  and  there  is  a 
growing  tendency  to  ask  of  history  primarily  and  chiefly 
that  it  contribute  to  an  understanding  of  these  problems. 
The  question  then  becomes,  not  what  in  the  past  is  im- 
portant in  representing  and  explaining  the  past,  but 
what  in  the  past  is  important  to  us.  Current  programs 
and  current  textbooks  are  severely  criticised  because 
they  do  not  properly  subordinate  history  to  this  most 
recent  use  of  history.  Already  the  movement  has  called 
into  being  a  committee,  and  a  preliminary  report  has 
already  been  published.  The  committee,  we  are  in- 
formed, intends  to  outline  five  unit  courses  as  follows: 

(1)  Community  civics  and  survey  of  vocations. 

(2)  European  history  to  1600  or  1700  (including  English  and 
colonial  American  history). 

(3)  European  history  since  1600  or  1700  (including  contem- 
porary civilization). 

(4)  United  States  history  since  1760  (including  current  events). 

(5)  Economics  and  civic  theory  and  practice.1 

1  Committee  on  Social  Studies,  National  Education  Association. 
For  the  preliminary  report  see  History  Teacher's  Magazine,  December, 
1913,  p.  291-296. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY 

THE  field  with  which  the  teacher  of  history  has  to 
deal  offers  as  units  of  instruction  individual 


beings  and  groups  of  human  beings.  Facts  relating  to 
the  former  make"  up  the  special  subject  matter  of  biog- 
raphy. Facts  relating  to  the  latter  make  up  the  sul> 
ject  matter  of  history  proper.  School  instruction^  in 
history  may  begin  with  either,  but  group  units  are,  in 
most  cases,  regarded  as  at  least  the  ultimate  goal. 
Pupils,  that  is,  are  at  some  stage  expected  to  study 
Athens,  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Christian  Church,  the 
American  people,  and  individual  Athenians,  Romans, 
Churchmen,  or  Americans,  only  as  these  appear  to  be 
needed  for  the  illustration  or  explanation  of  Athens,  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  Christian  Church,  or  the  Ameri- 
can people.  A  choice  between  individuals  as  units  and 
social  groups  as  units  is,  therefore,  ordinarily  presented 
only  in  the  earlier  stages  of  instruction.  Tne  usual 
view  is  that  history  for  children  should  begin  with  indi- 
viduals as  individuals,  but  that  the  subjects  should  be  so 
M  161 


1 62  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

selected  and  so  treated  as  to  prepare  for  a  study,  later 
in  the  course,  of  social  groups.  This  mode  of  procedure 
may  be  described  as  the  biographical  approach  to  his- 
tory. 

The  use  of  biography  for  beginners  appears  to  have 
been  first  suggested  by  Rousseau.  Biography  itself 
as  an  independent  form  of  literature  was  then  compara- 
tively new.  "Lives"  had,  of  course,  been  produced, 
both  by  antiquity  and  by  the  Middle  Ages.  Indeed, 
the  earliest  appearance  of  the  word  "biography"  hi  the 
English  language  seems  to  have  been  Dryden's  use  of  it 
in  1683  to  describe  the  famous  Parallel  Lives  by  Plu- 
tarch. Both  the  original  of  the  word  and  its  applica- 
tion to  "lives"  must  be  credited  to  the  Greeks.  But 
most  of  these  earlier  "lives"  lacked  the  true  biographi- 
cal  motive.  They  were  either  accounts  of  the  "times" 
written  after  the  manner  of  histories  in  general,  or,  if 
more  personal,  were  designed  to  celebrate  moral  quali- 
ties, to  impress  solemn  warnings,  to  defend  or  defame  a 
character,  to  win  support,  or  to  inspire  opposition,  to 
a  doctrine  or  policy,  rather  than  faithfully  to  portray 
the  life  of  a  man.  It  was  not  until  Dryden's  own  cen- 
tury that  any  considerable  part  of  the  literary  world 
began  to  demand  from  writers  of  "lives"  primarily  a 
truthful  record  of  lives  and  to  recognize  clearly  a  dis- 
tinction between  biography  and  history. 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         163 

Rousseau  proposed  a  truthful  record  for  Emile.  He 
would  have  men  exhibited  as  they  really  were.  That 

r 

was  his  one  reason  for  resorting  to  biography.  Emile 
was  to  begin  his  "study  of  the  human  heart"  with  the 
reading  of  "individual  lives,"  because  in  them  men  are 
more  fully  revealed  than  in  narratives  of  broader  scope. 
In  them  "it  is  in  vain  for  the  man  to  conceal  himself, 
for  the  historian  pursues  him  everywhere ;  he  leaves  him 
no  moment  of  respite,  no  corner  where  he  may  avoid  the 
piercing  eyes  of  a  spectator."  l  The  study  of_jjiej3asl 
was,  however,  to  begin  for  Emile  at  the  relatively 
mature  age  of  eighteen.  It  was,  then,  a  study  appar- 
ently beyond  the  usual  bounds  even  of  a  secondary 
school  course.  Could  biography  be  adapted  to  lower 
stages  of  instruction?  Was  it  desirable  for  lower  stages 
of  instruction? 

The  questions  were  raised  by  Basedow  and  other 
early  supporters  of  Rousseau,  but  nearly  fifty  years 
passed  before  educators  began  to  return  definitely  favor- 
able answers  in  the  form  of  actual  programs.  In  the 
process  the  fundamental  postulates  of  Rousseau,  that 
men  should  be  exhibited  as  they  really  were,  and  that 
"individual  lives"  are  to  be  preferred  to  more  general 
narratives  because  of  their  fuller  revelations  of  men,  were 
all  but  forgotten.  There  was  a  distinct  tendency  to 

1  Emile,  Payne's  Translation,  215-216. 


164  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

revert  to  older  conceptions  of  biography,  to  regard 
"lives"  as  vehicles  for  conveying  lessons  in  morals  and 
patriotism,  to  seek  illustrations,  not  of  life,  but  of  ideals 
of  living.  There  was  another  modification.  Rousseau, 
while  demanding  sober  facts,  placed  no  emphasis  upon 
the  study  of  individuals  as  a  preparation  for  the  study 
of  social  groups.  Later  advocates  of  the  biographical 
plan,  with  less  regard  for  "lives"  as  truthful  portraiture, 
/  had  much  to  say  of  biography  as  a  bridge  to  history, 
and  some  of  them  eventually  reached  the  conclusion 
that  history  of  any  kind  desirable  for  school  can  and 
ought  to  be  reduced  to  biography. 

The  introductory  biographical  survey  began  to  appear 
with  some  degree  of  frequency  in  German  programs  soon 
after  1820,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next  thirty  or  forty 
years  gradually  established  itself  in  the  world  at  large 
as   the  usual   approach   to  history.     There  was   some 
competition  between  biography  and  myths  and  sagas.  \ 
Advocates  of  the  culture-epoch  theory  naturally  preferred  x 
the  latter.     But  even  in  culture-epoch  programs  biog- 
graphy  was,  in  some  cases,  combined  with  myths  and 
.sagas.  (Biography  has  remained,  down  to  the  present, 

S  \- , r . , 

the  usual  introduction  to  history  A 


In  its  completed  form  the  argument  for  biography 
rested,  and  still  rests,  upon  the  following  general  propo- 
sitions : 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         165 

(1)  The  individual  person  is  a  simpler  subject  to  study 
than  the  tribe,  city,  or  nation  to  which  he  belongs. 

(2)  Children  have  a  natural  and  healthy  interest  in 
persons ;   they  live  and  suffer  with  their  heroes  and  thus  ]/ 
enlarge  their  own  experience  in  a  manner  scarcely  to  be 
thought  of  in  dealing  with  social  groups. 

(3)  Acquaintance  with  the  great  and  noble  characters 
of  the  past  creates  a  desire  to  be  like  them  and  makes  * 
the  evil  deeds  of  evil  men  abhorrent. 

(4)  Individuals    can    be    made    to    represent    social 
groups,  so  that  a  study  of  the  characteristics  and  experi-   S 
ences  of  individuals  is  in  effect  a  study  of  the  character- 
istics and  experiences  of  social  groups  themselves. 

Advocates  of  biography  emphasize,  of  course,  the 
need  of  careful  selection.  The  individual  person  is  a 
simpler  unit  for  study  than  the  social  group  to  which 
he  belongs.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  individual  per- 
son is  himself  necessarily  either  simple  or  interesting,  or, 
if  both  simple  and  interesting,  that  he  is  either  a  desir- 
able example  to  place  before  children  or  a  fair  represent- 
ative of  his  social  group. 

Each  country  naturally  includes  its  own  leaders  and 
heroes.  Most  countries  include  also  at  least  some 
characters  of  world  fame  or  of  world  infamy.  These 
are  in  a  measure  privileged  subjects  to  be  admitted  with 
or  without  reference  to  any  fixed  conviction  as  to  the 


1 66  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

kind  of  person  most  readily  adapted  to  the  intelligence  of 
children.  In  the  selection  of  other  subjects  the  stand- 
ards most  generally  in  evidence  are  those  supplied  by 
the  doctrine  of  natural  tastes  and  interests,  or  by  the 
culture-epoch  theory.  For  children  up  to  the  age  of  ten 
or  eleven  there  is  in  consequence  a  liberal  represen- 
tation of  persons  of  primitive  instincts  —  cavemen, 
Indians,  and  the  like  —  and  of  persons  of  various  in- 
stincts who  "did  things,"  especially  brigands,  pirates, 
adventurers,  explorers,  pioneers,  generals,  and  kings. 
Artists,  inventors,  builders,  captains  of  industry,  and 
other  "doers"  of  the  less  adventurous  sort  are  to  some 
extent  recognized,  and  there  are  occasional  references 
to  writers,  preachers,  philanthropists,  philosophers, 
teachers,  and  even  professional  scholars.  In  the  main, 
the  demand  is  for  "plenty  of  action,"  and  this  usually 
implies  action  that  savors  somewhat  of  the  spectacular. 
Subjects  and  treatment  frequently  transcend  the  limits 
of  strict  biography.  Fictitious  events  may  be  associated 
with  real  persons,  real  events  may  be  associated  with 
fictitious  persons,  events  and  persons  may  be  alike 
fictitious.  The  essential  condition  is  the  use  of  stories 
told  in  biographical  form.  It  is,  then,  quite  possible 
to  construct  characters  that  move  exclusively  in  realms 
peopled  by  the  supposed  interests  of  children.  The 
characters  may  themselves  be  children  and  may  easily 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         167 

be  assigned  rdles  in  which  they  play  their  full  parts 
without  "the  ignominy  of  growing  up"  and  thus  growing 
out  of  their  proper  sphere.  For  children  beyond  the 
age  of  ejeven  or  twelve,  both  subjects  and  treatment  are, 
as  a  rule,  more  strictly  biographical.  But  action  is 
stiU__the  ruling  principle. 

The  length  of  the  introductory  biographical  survey 
varies  greatly.  In  France  it  is  completed  at  the  end 
of  the  third  year.  In  England  it  is  often  carried  to  the 
end  of  the  seventh  year,  and  sometimes  to  the  end  of 
the  eighth  year.  In  the  United  States  many  programs 
carry  it  to  the  end  of  the  sixth  year.  Both  in  Europe 
and  in  America  there  are  occasional  demands  that  it 
should  be  carried  even  into  secondary  instruction. 

National  leaders  and  heroes  and  the  somewhat  mixed 
company  of  other  characters  associated  with  them  in  the 
school  curriculum  are,  perhaps,  less  generally  intelligible 
and  less  generally  interesting  than  is  commonly  supposed. 
Often  they  are  presented  so  abstractly  that  children 
can  find  little  with  which  to  live  and  suffer  except  vague 
adjectives  and  broad  generalizations.  If  the  presenta- 
tion were  in  all  cases  concrete,  if  the  characters  could  in 
all  cases  be  made  to  stand  out  as  real  persons,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  many  a  program  would  undergo  some- 

• 

what  radical  revision.  Those  tales  of  fighting,  killing, 
and  other  forms  of  physical  violence,  that  even  now 


1 68  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

occasionally  shock  the  sensibilities  of  children,  would, 
if  properly  realized,  shock  them  still  more,  and  some 
other  tales  would  be  found  to  convey  very  doubtful  ethi- 
cal lessons. 

For  moral  and  patriotic  purposes  the  chief  stress  is 
naturally  and  properly  laid  upon  "highly  endowed" 
and  "nobly  striving"  men.  The  general  principle  is 
that  "if  we  walk  with  those  who  are  lame,  we  learn  to 
limp"  and  "if  we  associate  with  princes,  we  catch  their 
manners."  "I  fill  my  mind,"  said  Plutarch,  "with  the 
sublime  images  of  the  best  and  greatest  men."  To 
fill  the  minds  of  children  with  images  of  the  same  kind, 
and  to  make  these  images  factors  in  the  adjustment  and 
regulation  of  everyday  conduct,  is  commonly  regarded 
as  the  supreme  aim  of  biography  in  school.  The  pupil 
is  "to  feel  that  these  heroic  characters  are  not  romantic 
ideals  to  which  he  cannot  approach,  but  facts  and 
/  forces  of  everyday  practical  life.  Progressively  he 
becomes  touched  with  the  feeling  of  debt  he  owes  to  the 
mighty  workers  of  the  past,  and  more  and  more  sees 
that  every  hero  of  history  is  as  near  to  him  as  his  next- 
/door  neighbor,  and  constitutes  a  large  portion  of  the 
daily  bread  of  his  entire  spiritual  life.  Out  of  the  in- 
spiration which  he  draws  from  these  perpetual  founts  of 
greatness  arise  a  breadth  of  view  and  a  moral  energy 
which  give  him  power  and  purpose  within  the  line  of 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH   TO  HISTORY         169 

his  pursuits  and  the  circle  of  his  influence  to  become 
himself  as  truly  a  benefactor  of  mankind.  It  is  the  fine 
task  of  the  teacher  to  give  him  the  inspiring  thought, 
that  within  the  circle  of  his  own  work  and  duty  he  can 
be  as  heroic  as  they  by  being  as  courageous,  generous, 
simple,  truthful,  refined,  and  noble;  in  short,  by  cloth- 
ing his  own  acts  in  hero's  clothes,  by  never  flinching 
when  there  is  need  for  heroic  blood  and  brawn."  l 

Such  ideals  many  of  the  lives  actually  presented  to 
children  tend  no  doubt  to  promote.'  Even  stories  of 
fighting  and  killing  can  no  doubt  be  so  manipulated  as 
to  teach  important  lessons  in  courage,  endurance,  and 
love  of  home  and  country.  From  consequences  of  a 
different  kind  most  children  are,  perhaps,  delivered  by 
the  limitations  of  their  own  intelligence.  They  do  not 
make  the  logical  application.  What  they  carry  away 
very  often  is  only  a  vague  impression  that  certain 
characters  of  the  past  were  in  some  obscure  way  either 
hopelessly  good  or  hopelessly  bad,  rather  stupid,  and 
on  the  whole  not  sufficiently  interesting  to  be  imitated. 
This  is  in  some  cases  fortunate.  There  are  examples 
placed  before  children  which,  if  really  understood  and 
really  taken  to  heart,  would  almost  certainly  impair  the 
discipline  of  the  schoolroom.  A  pupil  undertaking 
to  live  up  to  them  would  almost  certainly  be  dismissed 

1  Kemp,  Outline  of  Method  in  History,  267. 


170  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

from  school  and  might  in  time  find  his  way  to  jail  through 
that  lack  of  harmony  with  his  social  environment  which 
brought  some  hero  of  his  to  the  same  end.  "Lives  of 
great  men"  often  "remind  us"  that  the  way  to  "make 
our  lives  sublime"  is  to  defy  established  conventions. 
If  relatively  few  children  learn  that  lesson  in  school  and 
apply  it  in  undesirable  ways,  the  fault  is  not  in  the 
examples.  A  few  do  learn  it  and  early  begin  to  recognize 
that  the  situation  is  saved  for  others  by  misinterpreta- 
tion. Even  apparently  unimpeachable  examples  of 
strictly  conventional  virtues  are  not  always  entirely 
safe.  The  story  of  George  Washington  and  his  hatchet, 
for  example,  has  been  known  to  produce  somewhat 
melancholy  results.  It  has  actually  inspired  the  desire  to 
commit  some  act  of  depredation  for  the  sake  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  tell  the  truth  like  George  Washington  and  like 
him  to  be  rewarded.  Many  a  child  has  tried  the  experi- 
ment and  met  with  a  treatment  so  different  from  that 
which  George  Washington  received  as  to  lead  him  to 
question  very  seriously  whether  honesty  is,  after  all, 
the  best  policy.1  The  moral  and  patriotic  purpose  of 
biography  is  one  to  be  promoted  at  all  hazards,Jmt__lhe 


statement  is  based  upon  the  testimony  of  several  hundred 
teachers.  The  author  has  himself  rather  mournful  recollections  of  what 
happened  in  his  own  case  when  as  a  boy  of  eight  he  put  the  story  to  this 
kind  of  test. 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         171 

responsibility  of  the  teacher  is  so  grave  that  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  eliminate  the  hazards. 

The  representative  character  of  the  lives  presented 
in  school  is  almost  invariably  linked  with  the  "great- 
man  theory "  of  history.  The  general  idea  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  well-known  dictum  of  Carlyle  that 
"the  history  of  what  man  has  accomplished  in  this 
world  is  at  bottom  the  history  of  the  great  men  who  have 
worked  here." l  It  is  more  neatly  expressed  in  the 
dictum  of  Cousin  that  "great  men  sum  up  and  represent 
humanity."  2  The  relation  here  implied  may  be  either  . 
the  relation  of  a  great  man  to  his  own  times  or  the  rela- 
tion of  a  great  man  to  posterity.  Biography  when 
distinctly  urged  as  a  bridge  to  history  commonly  em- 
phasizes the  former.  The  idea  is  so  to  present  individ- 
ual characters  as  to  typify  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 

An  issue  is  thus  raised  which  has  long  invited  con- 
troversy. Greatness  is  usually  associated  with  fame. 
Yet  greatness,  as  defined  by  moralists,  may  utterly  fail 
to  achieve  fame,  and  fame  may  be  quite  unrelated  to 
moral  or  even  to  intellectual  greatness.  What  deter- 
mines fame?  The  whims  of  fortune  rather  than  any 
careful  weighing  of  worth,  according  to  Sallust;  the 
place  in  which  an  act  happened  to  be  performed,  accord- 

1  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship,  i. 

*  Quoted  by  Bourdeau,  UHistoire  et  les  Historiens,  17. 


172  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

ing  to  Cato ;  the  talent  of  the  writer  who  happened  to 
record  it,  according  to  Vopiscus.1  Often  fame  has  come 
to  men,  not  because  they  embodied  the  characteristics 
of  their  own  generation,  but  because  they  did  not  em- 
body  them,  not  because  they  were  representative  men, 
but  because  they  were  unrepresentative  men.  Often 
fame  has  been  denied  by  contemporaries  and  has  been 
bestowed  by  posterity.  As  for  the  famous  who  were 
also  great,  the  very  act  of  describing  them  as  great  sets 
them  apart  as  more  or  less  exceptional.  They  tower 
above  the  rank  and  file  of  humanity  as  mountains  tower 
above  the  plains  of  the  earth.  "What  would  you  think," 
asks  Bourdeau,  "of  a  geographer  who  for  a  complete 
description  of  the  earth  should  content  himself  with  a 
mention  of  the  highest  summits?"2  The  great-man 
theory  at  best  suggests  a  description  of  humanity  some- 
what analogous  to  such  a  geographer's  description  of 
the  earth. 

Representative  conditions  and  events  can  no  doubt 
to  some  extent  be  grouped  about  national  leaders  and 
heroes.  But  this  mode  of  grouping  is  on  the  whole  the 
more  effective  the  less  it  appeals  to  the  great-man  theory. 
To  say,  for  example,  that  children  can  learn  from  the 
life  of  George  Washington  all  that  they  need  to  know 

1  Quoted  by  Bourdeau,  L'Histoire  et  les  Historiens,  20. 
*  Bourdeau^o^.  cit.,  14. 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         173 

about  the  Revolution,  as  has  been  said  many  times  by 
exponents  of  the  great-man  theory,  is  to  impose  restric- 
tions on  the  treatment  both  of  George  Washington  and 
of  the  Revolution.  So  much  in  no  way  directly  related 
to  Washington  must  be  told  to  represent  the  Revolution, 
and  so  much  in  no  way  directly  related  to  the  Revolution 
must  be  told  to  represent  Washington,  that  the  result 
is  usually  a  forced  grbuping  which  leaves  Washington 
and  the  Revolution  alike  somewhat  obscure.  Biog- 
raphy, on  the  whole,  can  be  made  more  historical  by 
making  it  more  biographical,  by  grouping  men  about 
events  rather  than  events  about  men,  and  by  studying 
men  first  of  all  as  men.  Take  the  American  Revolution. 
Surely  not  even  George  Washington  himself  is  a  suffi- 
ciently embracing  center  for  making  this  movement 
intelligible.  Nor  is  there  any  other  hero  of  the  revolu- 
tionary period  who  sums  up  in  himself  the  characteristics 
of  his  age  sufficiently  to  make  his  life  the  life  of  the  times. 
There  were  many  leaders  and  many  different  points  of 
view.  What  were  the  determining  views?  Who  were 
the  advocates  of  them?  What  were  the  chief  events  in 
the  struggle  ?  Who  were  the  men  associated  with  them  ? 
There  were  Otis,  John  and  Samuel  Adams,  Hancock, 
Hutchinson,  Franklin,  Dickinson,  Hamilton,  Patrick 
Henry,  Jefferson,  Washington,  Pitt,  Grenville,  Lord 
North,  and  George  III.  What  manner  of  men  were 


174  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

they?  What  kind  of  homes  did  they  come  from? 
What  educational  advantages  had  they  enjoyed  ?  What 
was  their  social  position?  What  were  their  personal 
characteristics?  What  was  their  occupation?  Were 
they  successful  in  private  life?  Were  they  good  neigh- 
bors? Were  they  seekers  after  public  office?  Did  they 
hold  public  positions?  Who  were  their  friends?  Who 
were  their  enemies?  What  were  their  personal  con- 
troversies and  grievances?  Up  to  this  point  the  aim  is 
merely  to  know  the  men  as  men,  to  think  of  them  much 
as  we  think  of  our  personal  acquaintances.  When  now 
we  turn  to  the  principles  and  acts  of  the  Revolution, 
and  meet  our  acquaintances,  some  on  one  side  and  some 
on  the  other,  the  whole  movement  is  humanized  for  us. 
We  see  in  the  conflict  between  England  and  the  colonies 
opposing  principles,  but  we  see  also  opposing  personal 
tastes,  interests,  hopes,  and  ambitions.  We  see  the 
cost  to  some  and  the  gain  to  others,  among  those  who 
espoused,  and  among'those  who  rejected,  the  principles. 
The  principle  of  grouping  men  about  great  movements 
and  events  is  applicable  at  any  stage  of  instruction.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  school  course  the  teacher  who  so 
desires  may  suppress  altogether  the  events  that  deter- 
mined the  selection  of  the  men,  may  confine  attention 
to  purely  personal  characteristics,  and  yet  in  a  true 
sense  prepare  for  an  understanding  of  the  events  them- 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         175 

selves  when  later  the  events  are  presented.  Farther  on 
in  the  course,  and  especially  in  the  high  school,  the  study 
of  the  personal  element  in  this  personal  way  may  with 
profit  immediately  precede  the  more  formal  study  of 
movements  or  periods.  With  a  high  school  class  about 
to  take  up  the  Revolution,  for  example,  one  pupil  may  be 
asked  to  make  the  kind  of  personal  study  of  Otis  that  is 
indicated  by  the  questions  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
another  of  John  Adams,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  list. 
Two  or  three  lessons  would  be  sufficient  to  dispose  of  the 
entire  list.  Similar  studies  may  be  made  of  the  men 
who  became  prominent  in  public  life  between  1812  and 
1830,  and  again  of  the  generation  that  fought  out  the 
issues  of  1 86 1.  The  same  plan  can  be  applied  to  great 
movements  in  European  history.  Such  studies  imply, 
of  course,  the  use  of  facts  and  not  of  fiction.  Characters 
greatly  distorted  for  moral  or  patriotic  ends  can  serve 
no  very  definite  historical  purpose. 

Again,  the  grouping  of  men  about  events  suggests 
more  strongly  than  the  grouping  of  events  about  men  a 
sense  of  proportion  and  the  possibility  of  so  arranging 
biographical  stories  as  to  convey  some  impression  of 
continuity.  The  condition  of  cultivating  a  sense  of 
proportion  is  to  select  conditions  and  events  that  were 
characteristic  and  important  and  so  to  treat  the  partic- 
ular men  associated  with  them  as  to  bring  out  charac- 


176  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

teristic  qualities.  The  condition  of  developing  an  idea 
of  continuity  is  to  make  use  of  stories  that  have  some 
relation  to  each  other  and  in  each  story  to  make  use  of 
incidents  that  have  some  relation  to  each  other.  These 
conditions  are  rarely  met  by  the  introductory  biographi- 
cal surveys  in  school  programs.  Even  where  the  charac- 
ters selected  are  in  general  significant  from  the  point  of 
view  of  history  the  stories  have  as  a  rule  little  or  no 
connection.  Usually  there  is  not  even  a  pretense  of 
combining  the  materials  into  a  continuous  story.  In  the 
plan  of  the  Committee  of  Eight,  for  example,  and  this  is 
fairly  typical  of  biographical  plans  in  general,  children 
in  the  first  grade  catch  glimpses  of  Miles  Standish,  of 
Samoset  and  Squanto,  and  of  George  Washington.  In 
the  second  grade  they  have  a  little  more  of  George 
Washington,  something  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and 
"selected  stories  of  Civil  War  heroes."  In  the  third 
grade  they  meet  heroes  of  other  times ;  Joseph,  Moses, 
vDavid,  Ulysses,  Alexander,  Cincinnatus,  Horatius, 
William  Tell,  Roland,  Canute,  Alfred,  Robert  Bruce, 
Joan  of  Arc,  Harroun,  and  Columbus.  In  the  fourth 
grade  they  are  introduced  in  a  somewhat  more  regular 
way  to  American  explorers  and  colonists,  but  even  here 
they  take  the  leap  from  La  Salle  to  Washington  and 
Franklin.  In  the  fifth  grade  they  have  selected  bio- 
graphical stories  from  American  history  beginning  with 


THE   BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY         177 

Patrick  Henry  and  ending  with  Lincoln  and  Robert  E. 
Lee,  but  again  there  is  little  to  suggest  a  continuous 
story.  Such  an  arrangement  leaves  much  to  be  desired 
if  biography  is  to  be  used  as  a  real  preparation  for 
history. 


CHAPTER  VH 

THE  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  GROUPS 

THE  distinction  between  biography  and  history  which 
has  grown  up  since  the  seventeenth  century  does  not 
imply  that  the  study  of  individuals  has  been  completely 
differentiated  from  the  study  of  social  groups.  Prac- 
tically all  works  recognized  as  histories,  from  Herodotus 
down  to  the  present,  have  been  in  part  biographical. 
Most  of  them  are  in  a  measure  subject  to  the  charge  of 
summing  up  humanity  in  terms  of  that  relatively  small 
number  of  individuals  to  whom  the  opinion  of  the  world 
has  awarded  the  crown  of  greatness,  or  at  least  of  fame. 
Kings,  generals,  popes,  bishops,  and  other  officials  in 
church  and  state,  painters,  sculptors,  builders,  and 
other  creators  of  "great  and  marvelous  works,"  orators 
on  great  public  occasions,  writers  on  great  public  ques- 
tions, have  as  a  matter  of  course  been  described.  The 
difference  is  in  the  relative  emphasis  and  general  point  of 
view.  Biography,  in  the  modern  sense,  aims  primarily 
to  depict  the  individual  as  an  individual  and  recounts 
his  service,  or  disservice,  to  the  social  group,  to  indicate 
his  importance  as  an  individual.  History  aims  primarily 

i78 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  179 

to  depict  the  social  group  and  deals  with 'the  acts,  opin- 
ions, and  characteristics  of  individuals,  primarily  for  the 
purpose  of  illustrating  or  explaining  group  conditions 
and  activities.  There  are,  however,  recent  biographies 
that  aim  to  set  forth  both  the  ".life"  and  the  "times," 
and  there  are  recent  histories,  especially  of  the  class 
concerned  with  smaller  social  groups  —  histories  of 
towns,  of  cities,  of  counties,  —  that  reduce  the  "times" 
to  a  series  of  biographical  sketches. 

When  history  first  began  to  find  its  way  into  the 
school  curriculum,  it  presented  itself,  in  the  main,  as 
an  account  of  political  and  military  events.  Leaders  and 
heroes  figured  conspicuously,  for  politics  and  war  inevi- 
tably produce  "outstanding  characters."  But  the  point 
of  view  was  not  consciously  biographical.  The  life  to  be 
portrayed  was,  so  far  as  it  went,  group  life,  the  life  of 
nations,  of  principalities,  of  empires.  This,  in  addition  to 
being  the  kind  of  history  that  had  commonly  been  writ- 
ten by  historians,  was  a  kind  of  history  easy  to  organize 
and  easy  to  arrange  in  the  form  of  a  connected  narrative. 
It  was,  moreover,  a  kind  of  history  that  brought  together 
a  great  many  facts  of  the  highest  importance. 

Almost  from  the  beginning,  however,  there  was  a 
demand  for  a  larger  view  of  the  field  for  school  purposes. 
The  demand  was  plainly  voiced  by  Comenius.  It  was 
repeated  again  and  again  by  later  reformers,  and,  toward 


l8o  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  began  to  make  some 
impression  upon  school  programs.  Early  nineteenth 
century  conditions  were  somewhat  unfavorable:  The 
Napoleonic  wars  and  the  new  patriotism  tended  to 
establish  more  firmly  political  and  military  history. 
Later  the  development  of  the  biographical  approach  to 
history,  with  its  insistence  upon  action  and  picturesque- 
ness,  tended  to  fix  attention  upon  political  and  military 
leaders.  But  materials  for  a  different  kind  of  school 
history  were,  in  the  meantime,  being  made  more  acces- 
sible. The  way  was  opened  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  by  Voltaire.  His  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV 
was  the  first  attempt  in  historical  literature  to  portray 
the  whole  life  of  a  period.  His  Essai  sur  Us  Mceurs, 
setting  forth  the  moral,  social,  economic,  artistic,  and 
literary  life  of  Europe,  from  Charlemagne  to  Louis  XIII, 
was  the  first  attempt  to  produce  a  real  history  of  civili- 
zation. In  Germany,  Winckelmann  looked  to  ancient 
art  for  a  revelation  of  the  Greek  mind ;  Heeren  traced 
the  development  of  commerce;  Moser,  in  his  history 
of  Osnabriick,  furnished  a  model  of  social  history,  and, 
incidentally,  discovered  the  peasant.  Herder  dealt 
with  the  folk  soul,  and  Schlosser,  in  his  Weltgeschichte, 
undertook  a  broad  survey  of  the  world.  When  Carry le 
in  1830  asked  "which  was  the  greatest  benefactor,  he 
who  gained  the  battles  of  Cannae  and  Trasimene  or  the 


THE   STUDY   OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  l8l 

nameless  poor  who  first  hammered  out  for  himself  an 
iron  spade,"  the  nameless  poor  already  had  a  consider- 
able place  in  historical  literature.  Carlyle  wished  to 
enlarge  it.  "From  of  old,"  the  historian  had,  he  pro- 
tested, too  often  "  dwelt  with  disproportionate  fondness 
in  senate  houses,  in  battle  fields,  nay,  even  hi  king's 
antechambers,"  forgetful  of  the  rest  of  the  world, 
"blossoming  and  fading  whether  the  'famous  victory' 
were  won  or  lost."  A  different  and  higher  conception 
was  now  expected,  and  there  were  signs  of  a  time  coming 
"when  he  who  sees  no  world  but  that  of  courts  and 
camps,  and  writes  only  how  soldiers  were  drilled  and 
shot,  and  how  this  ministerial  conjurer  outconjured  that 
other  .  .  .  will  pass  for  a  more  or  less  instructive  gaz- 
etteer, but  will  no  longer  be  called  an  historian."  l 

If  these  brave  words  were  forgotten  in  Carlyle's  later 
work,  and  if  he  wrote,  after  1840,  precisely  the  kind  of 
history  which  he  had  condemned  in  1830,  Macaulay  was 
more  consistent.  The  perfect  historian  sketched  by 
Macaulay  in  his  essay  on  History,  published  in  1828, 
"shows  us  the  court,  the  camp,  and  the  senate.  But  he 
shows  us  also  the  nation.  He  considers  no  anecdote,  no 
peculiarity  of  manner,  no  familiar  saying,  as  too  insig- 
nificant for  his  notice  which  is  not  too  insignificant  to 
illustrate  the  operation  of  laws,  of  religion,  and  of  educa- 

1  Essay  on  History. 


1 82  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

tion,  and  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  human  mind. 
Men  will  not  merely  be  described,  but  will  be  made 
intimately  known  to  us.  The  changes  of  manners  will 
be  indicated,  not  merely  by  a  few  general  phrases  or  a 
few  extracts  from  statistical  documents,  but  by  appro- 
priate images  presented  in  every  line."  l  This  idea 
Macaulay  sought  faithfully  to  realize  in  his  History  of 
England,  the  first  two  volumes  of  which  appeared  in 
1848,  and  the  enormous  popularity  of  the  work  was  due 
in  large  part  to  success  in  achieving  his  ideal.  The 
History  was  translated  into  the  language  of  every 
civilized  country  and  was  read  by  all  classes.  Among  the 
numerous  testimonials  which  reached  the  author  was  a 
vote  of  thanks,  carried  at  a  meeting  of  workmen,  "for 
having  written  a  history  which  working  men  can  under- 
stand." 2 

The  widening  horizon  of  historians  began  to  be  per- 
ceptible in  school  instruction  in  Germany  about  1850. 
Weber's  Lehrbuch  der  Weltgeschichte,  published  in  1847, 
was  the  work  of  a  practical  schoolmaster  and  grew  out 
of  his  work  as  a  teacher  of  history.  It  illustrated  the 
possibility  of  summing  up  in  a  comprehensive  survey, 
without  neglecting  either  politics  or  war,  the  history  of 
art,  literature,  science,  religion,  philosophy,  and  general 

1  Essays,  three-volume  edition,  I,  306. 

2  Gooch,  History  and  Historians  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  301. 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  183 

cultural  conditions.  This  work  in  the  course  of  forty 
years  passed  through  twenty  editions  and  became  the 
basis  of  innumerable  textbooks  for  schools.  It  seems 
to  have  been  the  original  model  of  most  American  text- 
books in  the  field  of  general  history. 

About  1860  Kulturgeschichte  began  to  assume  the 
proportions  of  a  general  issue.  In  that  year  Biedermann 
published  an  essay  of  forty-five  pages  on  The  Teaching  oj 
History  in  School,  its  Defects,  and  a  Proposal  for  a  Remedy. 
The  defects  which  Biedermann  saw  were  that  history 
consisted  of  a  mere  succession  of  events  and  that  its 
method  was  mere  narration.  History  of  this  kind,  in  his 
opinion,  exercised  the  memory  only  and  overloaded  that, 
much  to  the  confusion  of  the  understanding.  It  left 
the  pupil  almost  entirely  passive.  "Shall  history  in 
school,"  he  asked,  "describe  merely  actions  and,  as 
performers  of  them,  great  personalities,  or  shall  it  con- 
cern itself  with  the  general  conditions  of  a  time  or 
people,  shall  it  deal  exclusively  or  chiefly  with  external, 
so-called  political  history  (war,  battles,  treaties  of  peace, 
conquests,  distributions  of  provinces,  regents,  generals, 
diplomats,  etc.),  or  shall  it  deal  also  with  the  inner  life 
of  the  people,  .  .  .  shall  it  present  events  in  mere  suc- 
cession or  according  to  their  organic  relations?"  The 

1  Der  Geschichtsunterricht  in  der  Schule,  seine  Mdngel  und  ein  Vorschlag 
zur  Abhttfe. 


184  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

answer  was  that  history  in  school  should  be  a  study  of 
civilization. 

In  Germany,  for  the  remainder  of  the  century,  the 
Kulturgeschichte  issue  aroused  almost  continuous,  and  at 
times  angry,  debate.  Kulturgeschichte  proved  a  term 
difficult  to  define.  To  the  schoolmaster  it  meant  in 
general  concrete  illustrations  of  the  non-political  aspects 
of  civilization.  To  the  historian  it  might  mean  a  blend- 
ing of  psychology  and  sociology,  a  study  of  the  social 
consciousness,  the  social  mind,  the  social  soul.  Lam- 
precht,  a  leading  advocate  of  the  latter  view,  has  de- 
clared that  political  history  merely  inquires  with  Ranke 
how  it  happened  —  "wie  es  eigentlich  gewesen?" 
Kulturgeschichte  asks  how  it  became  —  "wie  es  eigent- 
lich geworden?"  The  one  is  narrative  in  method,  the 
other  is  genetic.1  The  outstanding  fact,  so  far  as  school 
instruction  is  concerned,  is  that,  during  the  last  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  scope  of  history  programs 
gradually  broadened  until,  both  in  Germany  and  in 
other  countries,  the  non-political  aspects  of  civilization 
won  recognition  as  at  least  an  indispensable  part  of 
surveys  of  history  for  schools.  To-day  there  is  in  all 
countries  emphasis  upon  social  and  economic  history, 
with  a  tendency,  especially  marked  in  the  United  States, 
to  exalt  the  common  man  and  the  common  life. 

1  Gooch,  History  and  Historians  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  588. 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  185 

The  changes  thus  indicated  in  conceptions  of  history 
for  schools  reflect  political,  social,  and  economic  changes 
in  the  world  at  large.  The  growth  of  democracy  with  its 
ideals  of  equal  opportunity  for  all  and  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  tended  naturally  to  shift  interest  from  leaders  and 
heroes  of  the  old  type  to  the  masses,  and  to  the  men  and 
measures  that  have  forwarded  the  improvement  of  the 
masses.  The  industrial  revolution  created  a  new  world 
and  brought  home  to  historians,  as  never  before,  the 
significance  of  past  industrial  life.  One  result  was  the 
economic  interpretation  of  history,  a  search  for  explana- 
tions of  human  development  in  "the  hard  daily  work  on 
earth"  rather  than  in  "the  shifting  clouds  of  heaven." 
A  new  industrial  situation  demanded  a  new  industrial 
education  and  led  to  a  searching  reexamination  of  the 
whole  educational  system,  with  demands  for  readjust- 
ment, amounting,  in  some  cases,  to  revolution.  A  new 
social  consciousness  and  new  conceptions  of  social  effi- 
ciency developed.  School  instruction  in  history  has,  in 
consequence,  been  called  upon  to  impress  the  lesson  that 
progress  comes  through  cooperation,  acting  together^ 
thinking  of  the  social  welfare.  It  has,  in  common  with 
other  subjects,  been  called  upon  to  socialize  the  pupil, 
to  counteract  the  selfish  instincts  natural  to  the  young, 
to  show  that  no  one  can  live  for  himself  alone,  that  each 
will  live  better  for  himself  by  living  for  others.  All  of 


1 86  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

these  influences  have,  as  a  matter  of  course,  pointed  to 
the  study  of  group  conditions  and  activities.  School 
history  has  not  been  called  upon  so  generally  as  might 
have  been  expected  to  make  the  social  world  really 
intelligible,  but  the  social  consciousness  of  our  time  seems 
to  be  leading  us  in  that  direction. 

The  study  of  group  life  as  a  whole  is  naturally  more 
difficult  than  the  study  of  group  life  as  expressed  in 
politics  and  war.  Activities  conducted  by  govern- 
mental agencies  authorized  to  command  obedience  and 
able  to  exact  it  have  a  unity  and  continuity  relatively 
easy  to  discern.  They  can  even  be  described  without 
taking  much  account  of  the  characteristics  either  of 
the  groups  that  command  or  of  the  groups  that  obey. 
A  view  of  group  life  as  a  whole  imposes  at  the  outset  the 
need  of  some  analysis  of  the  group.  No  human  group 
is  entirely  homogeneous.  It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  even 
within  a  small  group,  within  a  single  family,  there  may 
be  widely  different  abilities,  tastes,  interests,  conduct,  and 
character.  The  larger  the  group,  the  greater  the  varia- 
tions. "The  English  nation  comprises  Welsh,  Scotch, 
and  Irish ;  the  Catholic  Church  is  composed  of  adherents 
scattered  over  the  whole  world,  and  differing  in  every- 
thing but  religion.  There  is  no  group  whose  members 
have  the  same  habits  in  every  respect.  The  same  man 
is  at  the  same  time  a  member  of  several  groups,  and  in 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  187 

each  group  he  has  companions  who  differ  from  those  he 
has  in  the  others.  A  French  Canadian  belongs  to  the 
British  Empire,  the  Catholic  Church,  the  group  of 
French-speaking  people."  l 

The  search  for  characteristics  common  to  any  large 
social  group  is  a  complicated  undertaking.  The  tend- 
ency is  to  assume  that  habits  and  usages  practiced  in  a 
conspicuous  manner  by  a  part  of  the  group  characterize 
the  group  as  a  whole.  This  is  often  strikingly  illus- 
trated in  the  treatment  of  nations,  the  groups  most 
frequently  in  evidence  in  school  instruction  in  history. 
We  learn  that  Americans  love  the  almighty  dollar,  tljat 
the  Germans  love  scientific  truth,  and  that  the  French 
love  humanity;  that  the  English  "stick  to  it,"  that  the 
Scotch  have  no  sense  of  humor,  and  that  the  Spaniards 
never  do  to-day  what  they  can  put  off  until  to-morrow. 
Such  dominant  national  characteristics,  it  has  been 
urged,  should  stand  out  as  the  dominant  facts  in  the 
teaching  of  history  and  should  be  vividly  impressed 
upon  the  minds  of  the  pupils.  Picture,  for  example,  a 
tempestuous  night  in  London  and  a  cabman  sitting 
erect  and  serene  on  his  box,  oblivious  of  raging  wind,  rain, 
lightning,  and  thunder,  as  ready  for  a  fare  as  under  the 
most  smiling  of  skies.  That,  according  to  a  well-known 

1  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History,  239- 
240. 


1 88  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

American  lecturer  on  education,  is  England,  and  there 
is  the  secret  of  England's  greatness. 

The  objection  to  such  sweeping  summaries  of  national 
traits  is  not  only  that  they  attribute  to  an  entire  group 
the  characteristics  of  a  part  of  the  group,  but  that  they 
imply  an  absence  of  those  characteristics  in  other  na- 
tional groups.  The  love  of  money  did  not,  of  course, 
begin  in  America  and  is  not  peculiar  to  American  citizens. 
If  with  us  the  chase  for  the  almighty  dollar  is  on  the 
part  of  those  engaged  in  it  more  active  than  in  Europe, 
it  may  be  merely  because  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
there  are  more  dollars  to  chase.  There  are,  of  course, 
non-Germans  who  love  scientific  truth  and  Germans 
who  do  not,  non-Frenchmen  who  love  humanity  and 
Frenchmen  who  do  not,  non-Englishmen  who  "stick  to 
it"  and  Englishmen  who  do  not,  non-Scotchmen  who 
are  defective  in  their  sense  of  humor  and  Scotchmen  who 
are  not,  non-Spaniards  who  procrastinate  and  Spaniards 
who  do  not.  England  personified  in  a  cabman  is  effec- 
tive as  a  mode  of  presentation.  The  induction  is  marred 
by  the  possibility  of  duplicating  it  on  precisely  the  same 
grounds  for  almost  any  other  country.  There  are 
cabmen  in  Paris,  in  Munich,  in  Berlin,  and  even  in  New 
York  and  Chicago,  who  may  be  observed  sitting  equally 
erect  and  serene  through  night  and  storm. 

Schools  that  now  introduce  the  study  of  social  groups 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  189 

at  the  beginning  of  the  course  in  history  usually  start 
with  the  family,  pass  on  to  the  school,  and  then  out  to 
the  community  in  which  the  school  is  situated.  The 
materials  and  treatment,  as  actually  managed  for  young 
children,  are,  on  the  whole,  simpler  and  more  intelligible 
than  those  afforded  by  the  more  common  biographical 
approach.  The  simplification  is  at  times  extreme. 
Children  of  six  are  in  some  cases  formally  taught  that 
they  eat  at  tables,  sleep  in  beds,  have  fathers,  mothers, 
sisters,  brothers,  friends,  and  toys.  Schoolroom  experi- 
ences, the  school  playground,  and  the  concrete  facts  of 
school  organization  offer  equally  obvious  illustrations 
of  group  conditions,  activities,  and  relations.  The 
community  outside  of  the  school  may  be  introduced 
either  through  studies  of  individuals  who  perform 
special  social  service,  or  through  a  study  of  some  special 
trade,  art,  or  industry,  related  to  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. In  the  first  case,  the  study  may  begin  by 
following  on  their  rounds  the  milkman,  the  grocer's 
delivery  clerk,  the  street  cleaner,  the  garbage  collector, 
the  postman,  the  policeman,  the  doctor.  Gradually 
expanding  in  scope  it  may  in  time  make  the  children 
conscious  of  classes  in  the  community  and  give  them 
general  views  of  occupations,  industries,  commerce, 
manners  and  customs,  food,  dress,  amusements,  and 
whatever  else  may  be  considered  suitable  for  illustration 


1 90  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

of  group  life.  In  the  second  case,  the  starting  point 
may  be  a  factory  near  the  school,  or  some  industry  from 
which  a  considerable  number  of  homes  in  the  neighbor- 
hood derive  their  income.  In  a  small  community  there 
is  often  some  overshadowing  economic  interest.  The 
source  of  wealth  may  be  very  largely  oil,  or  coal,  or 
wheat,  or  potatoes,  or  broom-corn.  The  way  is  then 
entirely  clear.  In  a  large  community  the  problem  is 
complicated  by  the  greater  diversity  of  economic  inter- 
ests, but  the  principle  of  selecting  what  touches  the 
daily  life  of  the  homes  in  the  neighborhood  can  still 
to  some  extent  be  applied. 

Materials  of  this  concrete  character  relating  not  only 
to  present  but  to  past  group  conditions  and  activities 
in  the  community  can  be  introduced  as  early  as  the  first 
grade.  They  can  be  so  selected  and  so  treated  as  to 
convey  even  to  a  first  grade  rudimentary  ideas  of  change 
and  of  continuity,  and,  incidentally,  of  the  nature  of 
historical  evidence.  For  children  living  on  Manhattan 
Island,  for  example,  the  work  may  begin  with  a  glance 
at  changes  visibly  in  progress  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
school,  old  buildings  disappearing,  new  buildings  being 
erected,  families  moving  out  of  and  into  the  neighbor- 
hood, shops  going  out  of  business,  shops  opening  for 
business.  These  readily  suggest  questions  that  carry  the 
children  back  to  a  time  when  there  were  no  buildings 


THE   STUDY   OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  191 

like  those  we  now  see,  when  there  were  no  shops,  no 
street  cars,  and  not  even  streets ;  a  time  when  there  were 
no  people  like  ourselves  living  on  the  island.  Hints  of 
how  the  island  then  looked  are  still  conveyed  by  occasional 
bits  of  virgin  soil.  Other  hints  can  be  given  through 
pictures  and  through  the  use  of  the  sand  table.  Two  or 
three  lessons  will  be  sufficient  to  sweep  from  the  island 
the  white  man  and  all  his  ways  and  open  up  the  long  ago 
of  Indian  occupation.  Most  first-grade  children  havei 
already  heard  of  Indians.  If  asked  how  they  know 
Indians  once  lived  on  Manhattan  Island,  they  will  some- 
times answer  that  they  have  heard  stories  about  Indians, 
and  sometimes  that  they  have  actually  seen  bows  and 
arrows  and  tomahawks,  used  by  Indians.  The  list  of 
relics  can  easily  be  extended.  The  next  step  is  to  form 
a  picture  of  Indian  life :  dwellings,  food,  work,  play, 
weapons,  tools,  ornaments,  clothing,  painted  faces. 
There  should  be  a  visit  to  the  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  There  should  be  photographs  and  models  hi 
the  classroom.  The  children  can  themselves  construct 
an  Indian  "house"  and  imitate  simple  Indian  industries. 
Let  them  develop  from  the  "house"  some  of  the  prob- 
lems of  Jndian  life  in  such  a  "house."  How  would  they 
sleep  ?  how  sit  down  ?  how  get  out  and  in  ?  how  eat  their 
meals?  how  keep  warm  in  winter?  where  store  food? 
where  do  the  cooking?  Let  them  consider  in  a  similar 


TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

way  occupations  outside  of  the  "house,"  hunting,  fishing, 
gardening,  always  keeping  clear  what  Manhattan  Island 
itself  was  like,  the  water  surrounding  it,  vegetation,  kinds 
of  game  and  fish.  The  picture  is  completed  by  the  tell- 
ing of  stories  which  Indians  told  about  themselves. 

So  far  the  lessons  have  dealt  almost  entirely  with 
conditions.  The  events  celebrated  in  Indian  tradition 
are  obscure  and  in  the  main  improbable.  The  condi- 
tions of  Indian  life  have,  it  is  assumed,  been  compared 
and  contrasted  with  the  conditions  under  which  the 
children  themselves  live.  We  now  turn  to  events,  the 
first  and  greatest  of  which  is  the  coming  of  the  white 
man.  There  is  at  this  stage  no  occasion  for  any  refer- 
ence to  Europe  or  to  the  question  of  how  Europeans 
discovered  America.  The  white  men  may  be  allowed 
to  burst  upon  the  vision  of  the  children  as  they  burst 
upon  the  vision  of  the  Indians.  The  ideal  arrangement 
would  be  to  take  the  class  up  Riverside  Drive  and  follow 
Hudson's  progress  up  the  river  in  Juet's  narrative. 
Juet,  the  children  should  be  informed,  was  there.1  To 
the  story  as  he  told  it  should  be  added  the  story  as  told 
by  the  Indians  themselves  and  written  down  long  after- 
ward by  a  white  man.2 

1  Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History t  Narratives  of  New 
Nelherland,  Scribner's,  16-28. 

2  Higginson,  American  Explorers,  290-296. 


THE   STUDY   OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  193 

The  contact  between  Indians  and  white  men  suggests 
numerous  questions  of  interest  to  children.  How  did 
they  manage  to  talk  with  each  other?  What  would 
white  men  coming  up  the  river  for  the  first  time  want  to 
know?  What  signs  would  they  make?  What  answer- 
ing signs  would  the  Indians  make  ?  Did  the  Indians  have 
a  real  language?  What  was  it  like?  The  information 
is  either  directly  supplied  by  early  narratives  or  readily 
inferred  from  them.1  Attention  is  again  called  to  the 
appearance  and  customs  of  the  Indians  as  set  forth  in 
accounts  written  by  white  men,  and  the  children  are 
made  conscious  that  it  is  through  these  accounts  we 
learn  most  of  what  we  know  about  Indian  life  on  Man- 
hattan Island. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  Dutch  on  the  Island 
another  chapter  of  life  opens,  to  be  developed  in  a  manner 
similar  to  that  suggested  for  the  study  of  the  Indians, 
with  the  addition  of  incidents  illustrating  the  relations 
between  the  Dutch  and  the  Indians,  and  comparisons 
and  contrasts  between  Dutch  and  Indian  life.  The 
coming  of  the  English  can  be  treated  in  the  manner  sug- 
gested for  the  coming  of  the  Dutch  and  can  be  followed 
by  an  account  of  life  in  early  New  York  similar  to  that 
proposed  for  Dutch  and  Indian  life.  Under  a  skillful 
teacher  the  three  phases  can  be  compassed  by  a  first 

1  See  Narratives  of  New  Netherland. 
o 


IQ4  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

grade  in  a  single  year  and  can  be  so  bound  together  as  to 
make  a  connected  story. 

For  children  who  begin  in  the  lower  grades  with  biog- 
raphy and  reach  in  the  upper  grades  the  study  of  social 
groups,  work  of  a  somewhat  more  ambitious  character 
is  possible.  The  community  is,  let  us  say,  one  in  which 
the  chief  agricultural  product  is  broom-corn,  and  the 
chief  local  industry,  the  manufacture  of  brooms.  A 
considerable  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  are  engaged 
in  raising  broom-corn,  in  buying  and  selling  broom-corn, 
or  in  making  brooms,  and  many  of  the  children  in  the 
school  are  already  looking  forward  to  one  or  the  other  of 
these  occupations.  The  study  may  then  begin  with  the 
broom-corn  producing  group,  the  conditions  of  planting 
and  harvesting,  the  appearance  of  the  crop,  the  mode  of 
transporting  it  to  market;  and  the  money  it  brings. 
The  producers,  it  is  observed,  have  a  considerable  amount 
of  leisure.  They  crowd  the  public  square  of  the  town 
on  a  Saturday  afternoon  for  no  other  purpose  apparently 
than  that  of  indulging  their  social  instincts.  On  Mon- 
days they  come  to  town  again  in  large  numbers  to  do 
their  trading.  The  crop  seems  to  be  profitable.  Bank 
accounts  are  so  common  that  interest  on  deposits  ceased 
long  ago.  From  the  producers,  the  study  may  pass  on  to 
dealers  in  broom-corn,  the  conditions  of  buying,  storing, 
and  selling,  and  then  on  to  the  factories  in  which  brooms 


THE   STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  GROUPS  195 

are  made,  the  workers,  the  machinery  used,  the  output. 
The  relations  of  the  groups  to  each  other,  to  the  com- 
munity, and  to  the  world  beyond  the  community  are 
easily  illustrated.  One  season  a  few  buyers  attempt  a 
"corner"  in  broom-corn.  The  price  advances  rapidly 
from  $90  a  ton  to  $200  a  ton.  This  is  highly  gratifying 
to  the  farmers.  The  factories  raise  the  price  of  brooms. 
This  is  not  gratifying  to  consumers  of  brooms.  Some 
dealers  and  some  owners  of  factories  begin  to  look  to 
other  countries  for  raw  material.  One  dealer  discovers 
broom-corn  in  Bohemia  and  imports  a  cargo  at  a  cost  of 
less  than  $100  a  ton,  with  a  prospect  of  being  able  to 
secure  more  later  at  a  cost  of  $60  a  ton.  Thereupon  the 
member  of  congress  representing  an  American  broom- 
corn  district  introduces  a  bill  providing  for  a  duty  on 
broom-corn  to  protect  American  industry.  A  wide 
range  of  social,  economic,  and  political  conditions  can, 
it  is  evident,  be  explained  by  broom-corn  alone. 

Having  been  made  duly  conscious  of  group  conditions 
and  activities  dependent  upon  broom-corn  in  the  present, 
the  pupil  is  prepared  to  understand  group  conditions 
and  activities  dependent  upon  broom-corn  or  other  prod- 
ucts in  the  past.  The  step,  as  already  noted,  is  at- 
tended with  some  danger  of  confusion  to  the  historical 
sense.  There  is  an  inborn  tendency  to  carry  the  en- 
vironment of  the  present  into  the  past.  The  deeper  the 


196  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

consciousness  of  the  present,  the  stronger  the  inclination 
to  transport  it,  especially  when,  as  is  very  often  the  case, 
teachers  lay  great  emphasis  upon  resemblances  .between 
past  and  present.  Resemblances  should  not  be  over- 
looked, but  the  corrective  furnished  by  emphasis  upon 
differences  between  past  and  present  should  also  be 
constantly  applied. 

The  study  of  social  groups  on  the  relatively  small 
scale  thus  far  indicated  admits,  without  great  difficulty, 
of  connected  views  and  of  a  continuous,  concrete  narra- 
tive of  development.  The  study  of  groups  on  a  larger 
scale,  the  life  of  nations,  to  say  nothing  of  the  life  of 
humanity  as  a  whole,  is  quite  a  different  matter.  The 
application  of  the  point  of  view  to  history  in  general  is 
limited  for  some  peoples,  especially  those  of  the  remoter 
past,  by  the  inadequacy  of  available  sources.  The  daily 
life  of  some  countries  can  scarcely  be  known  at  all. 
For  other  peoples  it  is  limited  by  the  very  abundance  of 
materials.  Kulturgeschichte  dealing  with  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  a  generalized  social  soul  is  admittedly 
barred  from  the  elementary  and  secondary  school,  and 
the  massing  of  details  for  a  series  of  pictures  has  thus 
far  failed  to  achieve  coherence,  sequence,  connection, 
continuity. 

Biedermann  saw  the  difficulty  and  tried  to  meet  it. 
Beginning  with  children  of  ten  he  proposed  to  sum  up 


THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  197 

German    history    in    twelve   Kulturbilder,    as   follows: 

(1)  Germans  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era; 

(2)  the  Prankish  kingdom,  500;    (3)   the  Carolingian 
kingdom,  800;    (4)  German  kingship  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury;  (5)  the  fall  of  German  kingship  in  the  thirteenth 
century ;  (6)  the  triumph  of  the  provincial  princes  in  the 
fourteenth  century;    (7)   beginnings  of  reform,   1560; 
(8)  end  of  religious  strife,  1555;    (9)  Peace  of  West- 
phalia,   1648;     (10)   accession  of  Frederick  II,    1740; 
(n)  end  of  the  Empire,  1806,  or  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 
1815;   (12)  contemporary  conditions.     The  plan  was  to 
make  each  picture  a  fairly  detailed  representation  of 
social  conditions  and  to  bridge  the  intervals  by  looking 
back  from  each  picture  to  the  preceding  picture,  noting 
the  differences,  and  then   seeking,  in  the   intervening 
period,  the   causes   of   any  change   in  conditions  sug- 
gested by  such  differences.1 

Biedermann's  plan  simplifies  the  problem  of  selection. 
It  provides  the  pupil  with  definite  material,  and,  what  is 
still  more  important,  gives  him  something,  beyond  mere 
memorizing,  to  do  with  the  material  after  it  has  been 
presented.  German  critics  have,  indeed,  complained 
that  it  gives  the  pupil  too  much  to  do,  that  it  puts  an 
unreasonable  strain  upon  his  self-activity.  There  is 

1  Biedennann,  Der  Gesckkktsunterricht  auf  Scftulen  nach  Kulturgc- 
schichtlicker  Methode,  23-45. 


198  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

the  further  objection  that  the  manner  of  connecting  the 
pictures  does  not  achieve  real  continuity. 

Various  other  plans  for  organizing  the  material  have 
been  proposed.  Cultural  conditions  have  been  sur- 
veyed in  the  order  suggested  by  the  culture-epoch  theory. 
This  brings  together  peoples  in  the  same  stage  of  develop- 
ment without  regard  to  chronology  or  geography  and  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  confusing,  to  the  historical  sense  of 
pupils,  of  all  arrangements.  Special  forms  of  social 
development  have  been  singled  out  for  separate  treat- 
ment in  different  years  of  the  school  course  —  the  history 
of  the  family  and  the  home  in  one  year,  the  history  of 
mechanical  inventions  in  another  year,  the  history  of 
intellectual  life  in  still  another  year.  This  has  the 
merit  of  securing  orderly  sequence  for  each  special 
form  of  development,  but  at  the  expense  of  those  rela- 
tions to  other  forms  of  development  so  essential  to  any 
clear  conception  of  social  groups. 

For  the  organization  of  history  as  a  whole,  including 
the  political  as  well  as  the  non-political  factors  in  civiliza- 
tion, some  comprehensive  scheme  of  classifying  facts 
is  indispensable.  A  somewhat  rigid  view  of  institutions 
has  been  proposed.  "An  examination  of  the  life  of  any 
people,"  says  Professor  Mace,  "will  reveal  certain  per- 
manent features  common  to  the  history  of  all  civilized 
nations.  There  will  be  found  five  well-marked  phases,  — 


THE   STUDY   OF   SOCIAL  GROUPS  199 

a  political,  a  religious,  an  educational,  an  industrial,  and 
a  social  phase.  These  are  further  differentiated  by  the 
fact  that  each  has  a  great  organization,  called  an  institu- 
tion, around  which  it  clusters,  and  whose  purpose,  plan 
of  work,  and  machinery  are  peculiar  to  itself.  For 
political  ideas  the  center  is  the  institution  called  govern- 
ment ;  for  religious  ideas,  the  church ;  for  educational 
and  culture  influences,  the  school;  for  industrial  life, 
occupation;  and  for  social  customs,  the  family." 
These  "five  lines  of  growth,"  it  is  urged,  "move  on 
down  through  the  life  of  a  people  and  give  linear  con- 
tinuity to  the  subject,  and,  therefore,  a  clue  to  the 
method  of  its  organization."  1 

The  field  is  more  fully  exhibited  in  a  classification 
"founded  on  the  nature  of  the  conditions  and  of  the 
manifestation  of  activity,"  proposed  by  Langlois  and 
Seignobos,  as  follows : 

I.  Material  Conditions,  (i)  Study  of  the  body:  A.  Anthro- 
pology (ethnology),  anatomy,  and  physiology,  anomalies  and 
pathological  peculiarities.  B.  Demography  (number,  sex,  age, 
births,  deaths,  diseases).  (2)  Study  of  the  environment:  A.  Natural 
geographical  environment  (orographic  configuration,  climate, 
water,  soil,  flora,  and  fauna).  B.  Artificial  environment,  forestry 
(cultivation,  buildings,  roads,  implements,  etc.). 

n.  Intellectual  Habits  (not  obligatory),  (i)  Language  (vo- 
cabulary, syntax,  phonetics,  semasiology).  Handwriting. 

1  Mace,  Method  in  History,  n,  14. 


200  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

(2)  Arts:    A.  Plastic  arts  (conditions  of  production,  conceptions, 
methods,  works).     B.  Arts  of  expression,  music,  dance,  literature. 

(3)  Sciences  (conditions  of  production,  methods,  results).     (4)  Phi- 
losophy   and    morals    (conceptions,    precepts,    actual    practice). 
(5)  Religion  (beliefs,  practices). 

III.  Material  Customs   (not  obligatory),     (i)   Material  life: 

A.  Food  (materials,  modes  of  preparing,  stimulants).     B.  Clothes 
and  personal  adornment.     C.  Dwellings  and  furniture.     (2)  Private 
life:  A.  Employment  of  tune  (toilette,  care  of  the  person,  meals). 

B.  Social  ceremonies  (funerals  and  marriages,  festivals,  etiquette). 

C.  Amusements  (modes  of  exercise  and  hunting,  games  and  spec- 
tacles, social  meetings,  traveling). 

IV.  Economic  Customs,     (i)  Production:   A.  Agriculture  and 
stock-breeding.     B.  Exploitation  of  minerals.    (2)  Transformation, 
Transport  and  industries:    technical  processes,  division  of  labor, 
means  of  communication.     (3)   Commerce:    exchange  and  sale, 
credit.     (4)  Distribution:   system  of  property,  transmission,  con- 
tracts, profit  sharing. 

V.  Social    Institutions,     (i)    The  family:    A.    Constitution, 
authority,  condition  of  women  and  children.     B.  Economic  organ- 
ization.    Family   property,   succession.     (2)    Education  and   in- 
struction (aim,  methods,  personnel).     (3)  Social  classes  (principle  of 
division,  rules  regulating  intercourse). 

VI.  Public  Institutions  (obligatory),  (i)  Political  institutions: 
A.  Sovereign  (personnel,  procedure).  B.  Administration,  services 
(war,  justice,  finance,  etc.).  C.  Elected  authorities,  assemblies, 
electoral  bodies  (powers,  procedure).  (2)  Ecclesiastical  institu- 
tions (the  same  divisions).  (3)  International  institutions:  A. 
Diplomacy.  B.  War  (usages  of  war  and  military  arts).  C.  Pri- 
vate law  and  commerce.1 

1  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History, 
234-235- 


THE    STUDY   OF   SOCIAL   GROUPS  2OI 

This  classification,  while  intended  primarily  for  his- 
torians, is  of  use  also  to  teachers.  It  indicates  at  a 
glance  the  scope  of  the  field.  It  furnishes  hints  of  pro- 
cedure in  selecting  and  arranging  facts.  The  treatment 
of  history  in  American  schools  must,  for  the  present, 
follow  the  lead  of  the  textbooks  and  find  its  main  thread 
of  continuity  in  political  activities.  But,  in  adding  other 
facts,  and  in  organizing  them  about  that  thread,  the 
teacher,  at  least  in  the  high  school,  may  aim  to  take  a 
view  of  what  society  is  and  how  society  works,  as  com- 
prehensive as  that  suggested  for  historians. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MAKING  THE  PAST  REAL 

HOWEVER  history  may  be  conceived,  and  whatever 
may  be  the  aims  set  up  for  historical  instruction,  the 
fundamental  condition  of  making  history  effective  in  the 
classroom  is  to  invest  the  past  with  an  air  of  reality. 
The  condition  is  itself  fairly  obvious  and  has,  since  the 
eighteenth  century,  been  almost  continuously  impressed 
upon  teachers.  It  is  to-day  summed  up  in  countless 
assertions  to  the  effect  that  history  should  be  made 
"vivid"  and  "alive."  The  general  process  involved  is 
clear.  To  make  the  past  real  is  to  image  material 
conditions  and  events  and  to  reproduce  in  ourselves 
some  semblance  of  the  mental  states  that  determined 
these  conditions  or  events  or  were  determined  by  them. 

The  most  effective  appeal  to  the  sense  of  reality  is,  of 
course,  through  reality  itself.  "A  walk  through  Nor- 
mandy," says  John  Richard  Green,  at  the  opening  of  his 
chapter  on  Normandy  and  the  Normans,  "teaches  one 
more  of  the  age  of  our  history  which  we  are  about  to 
traverse  than  all  the  books  in  the  world."  l  "A  walk 

1  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  71. 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL  203 

through  Normandy"  is  a  privilege  reserved  for  the  few, 
but  a  walk  through  some  Normandy  is  possible  for  all. 
Every  community  offers  at  least  the  community  itself, 
a  local  geographical  environment,  local  remains,  and 
local  customs.  Everywhere  materials  are  provided 
for  making  the  local  past  real.  The  community  may, 
it  is  true,  be  one  in  which  nothing  of  importance  to  the 
world  at  large  ever  seems  to  have  happened.  The  richer 
the  associations,  the  better.  Better  the  Seven  Hills  of 
Rome  for  an  outlook  upon  world  history  than  any 
number  of  hills  that  may  be  counted  from  a  cross-roads 
school  in  America.  But  all  ground  associated  with 
human  life  is  in  a  true  sense  historic  ground.  All  prod- 
ucts of  human  art  or  industry  are  historic  products. 
All  human  customs  are  historic  customs.  The  radius 
of  fame  is  not  the  only  measure  of  the  significance  of  a 
community  in  the  teaching  even  of  world  history.  Any 
local  past  properly  realized,  not  only  contributes  in  a 
general  way  to  a  feeling  of  reality  in  dealing  with  the 
larger  past,  but  supplies  specific  elements  for  recon- 
structing the  larger  past.  This  is  not  the  only  reason 
why  teachers  and  pupils  in  any  community  should 
know  the  past  and  present  of  the  community,  but  it  is  a 
sufficient  reason. 

There  is  need  of  emphasis  here.    Teachers  of  history  in 
unfavored    communities    are    sufficiently    aware    that 


204  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

teachers  of  history  in  favored  communities  should  not, 
and  probably  do  not,  neglect  local  resources.  Yet 
favored  communities  are  no  more  real  than  unfavored 
communities.  The  need  of  building  historical  knowledge 
upon  the  direct  personal  experiences  of  the  pupil  is  no 
greater  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other.  In  every 
community  there  should  be,  not  merely  such  casual  use 
of  the  local  past  and  present  as  may  happen  to  occur  to 
the  teacher,  but  a  systematic  search  of  local  resources 
for  pouits  from  which  the  pupil  may  begin  his  journeys 
to  the  past  and  to  which  he  may  return.1  The  result 
should  be  an  added  sense  of  the  reality  both  of  the  past 
and  of  the  present  and  the  kind  of  communion  between 
past  and  present  which,  in  the  language  of  some  present- 
day  educators,  makes  history  "function." 

In  many  communities  the  field  open  to  direct  explora- 
tion is  greatly  enlarged  by  the  presence  of  material 
consciously  collected,  consciously  preserved,  or  con- 
sciously constructed  to  represent  past  realities.  There 
are  museums  that  contain  actual  relics,  and  models  of 
relics,  of  different  ages  and  countries.  There  are  gar- 
dens, parks,  monuments,  homes  with  their  furniture  and 
interior  decoration,  churches  and  various  other  kinds  of 

1 A  good  example  of  the  systematic  use  of  the  community  is  furnished 
by  Edgar  Weyrich,  Anschaulicher  Geschkhtsunterricht.  The  community 
is  Vienna. 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL  205 

buildings,  that  reproduce  conceptions  developed  and 
applied  in  other  times  by  other  communities.  Few 
teachers  are  likely  to  be  so  blind  as  the  one  who  is  re- 
ported to  have  carried  on  an  elaborate  discussion  of 
Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian  columns,  without  dis- 
covering, or  leading  her  pupils  to  discover,  that  the 
entrance  to  their  own  schoolhouse  was  flanked  by 
striking,  though  somewhat  crude,  examples  of  the  Doric 
order.  Most  teachers  are  likely  to  make  at  least  casual 
reference  to  such  materials.  But  here  again  the  refer- 
ences should  be  systematic  and  persistent. 

The  materials,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  not  always 
readily  accessible.  Even  museums  may  fail  to  reflect 
a  distinctly  historical  motive.  They  may  be  designed 
for  the  convenience  of  sight-seers  rather  than  for  the 
convenience  of  students  of  history.  Many  outsiders 
have  looked  with  envy  upon  such  arrangements  as  those 
of  the  National  Museum  in  Munich,  or  of  the  Northern 
Museum  in  Stockholm,  or,  on  a  smaller  scale,  of  the 
invaluable  Mercer  collection  in  Doylestown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, arrangements  that  enable  the  observer  to  follow 
step  by  step  historical  development.  Stockholm  has  in 
addition  an  outdoor  museum,  an  inclosure  of  some 
seventy  acres,  showing  Sweden  in  miniature,  hills  and 
valleys,  brooks,  ponds,  woods,  fields  and  pastures,  flora 
and  fauna,  and,  what  is  still  more  interesting,  actual 


206  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

dwellings  from  different  districts  and  periods,  with  their 
actual  furnishings  and  with  attendants  dressed  in  the 
costumes  of  the  districts  and  periods  represented.  Some 
features  similar  to  these  are  now  being  added  to  the 
grounds  set  apart  for  the  Doylestown  museum.  They 
illustrate  possibilities  far  more  inviting  than  those 
with  which  most  teachers  of  history  must  be  content. 
But  directors  of  museums  are  now,  as  a  rule,  keenly 
interested  in  the  problems  of  the  schoolroom  and  will- 
ing, to  the  full  limit  of  their  powers,  to  cooperate 
with  teachers.  Often  temporary  rearrangements  of 
materials,  and  even  the  temporary  enlargement  of 
special  collections  through  loans,  can  be  secured  for 
the  asking.  Furthermore,  the  school  can  itself  be 
made  a  repository  of  local  antiquities,  or  at  least 
of  materials  that  will  some  day  become  local  an- 
tiquities.1 

Appeals  to  reality  within  the  community  can  and 
ought  to  be  supplemented  by  appeals  to  reality  beyond 
the  community.  This  suggests,  of  course,  visits  to  other 
communities  and  introduces  difficulties  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  many  American  teachers,  are  insurmountable. 
The  use  of  purely  local  resources  involves  a  large  expen- 
diture of  time.  The  use  of  resources  beyond  the  horizon 

1  See  Page,  A  Working  Museum  of  History,  in  History  Teacher's  Maga- 
tine,  V,  77-8o. 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL  207 

of  the  community  involves  in  addition  the  expenditure 
of  money.  In  Europe  first-hand  studies  of  the  com- 
munity itself  and  of  neighboring  communities  have 
been  greatly  facilitated  by  making  school  excursions  a 
part  of  the  regular  curriculum,  by  utilizing  holidays, 
and  by  taking  advantage  of  low  railway  fares.  The 
longer  school  excursion,  as  developed  by  Professor  Rein, 
is  prized  for  the  reality  which  it  imparts  to  geography, 
nature  study,  history,  and  other  subjects,  It  is  prized 
also  for  the  open-air  exercise  which  it  affords,  for  the 
initiative  and  freedom  which  it  makes  possible  for  pupils, 
for  the  opportunity  which  it  creates  for  social  training ; 
in  a  word,  for  advantages  which  we  commonly  associate 
with  school  athletics.  In  the  United  States  conditions 
are  less  favorable  and  school  excursions  of  any  kind  are 
less  common  than  in  Europe.  The  average  school  year 
is  shorter  than  in  Europe,  the  general  theory  of  holidays 
and  vacations  does  not,  as  in  Europe,  and  especially  in 
Germany,  encourage  tours  of  useful  exploration,  and 
travel  is  more  expensive.  We  attach,  moreover,  no 
such  value  to  excursions  as  is  attached  to  them  in  Europe. 
School  visits  to  museums  and  to  places  of  historic 
interest  within  and  without  the  community  are,  however, 
increasing,  and  the  custom  of  allowing  school  time  for 
shorter  excursions  is  gaining  in  favor. 

Further  assistance  in  reconstructing  the  material  past 


208  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

is  supplied  by  numerous  aids  to  visualization  designed 
specifically  for  use  in  school.  Here  are  included  casts, 
models,  pictures,  maps,  charts,  and  diagrams.  The 
need  of  such  aids  was  clearly  set  forth  as  long  ago  as  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  has  been  almost  continuously 
emphasized  ever  since.  In  Europe  the  response  has 
been  so  generous  that  there  is  now  scarcely  any  known 
phase  of  past  civilization  which  is  not  represented.  In 
the  United  States,  until  recently,  the  chief  reliance  has 
been  on  maps  and  pictures,  but  other  aids  are  now 
coming  into  use.  The  American  Historical  Association 
led  the  way  with  an  exhibit  in  New  York  in  1909.  The 
History  Teacher's  Magazine  for  February,  1910,  carried 
an  account  of  this  exhibit  to  teachers  in  every  section 
of  the  country  and  thus  spread  information  which  up  to 
that  time  had  been  mainly  confined  to  observers  of 
history  teaching  in  Europe.  Other  similar  exhibits 
followed,  notably  that  of  the  New  England  History 
Teachers'  Association,  now  a  permanent  feature  of  the 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  Two  important  pieces  of 
work  remain  to  be  done.  The  first  is  to  prepare  a  really 
exhaustive  guide  to  aids  especially  adapted  to  American 
schools.  The  second  is  to  provide  a  series  of  illustrative 
exercises  showing  definitely  when  and  how  the  aids  ought 
to  be  used.  As  matters  stand  at  present  many  schools 
seem  to  be  wasting  their  substance  in  the  acquisition 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL  2OQ 

of  unsuitable  material  and  wasting  their  time  in  unsuit- 
able use  even  of  suitable  material. 

For  obvious  reasons  casts  and  models  of  actual  relics 
offer  a  nearer  approach  to  the  originals  than  any  other 
form  of  representation.  By  means  of  them,  innumerable 
smaller  objects  can  be  reproduced,  substantially  in  every 
detail,  and  may,  for  all  purposes  except  the  purely 
aesthetic,  be  as  serviceable  as  the  originals.  Larger 
objects  can  be  similarly  represented  on  a  reduced  scale 
and  may  thus  in  some  cases  be  more  manageable  than 
the  originals.  A  battlefield,  for  example,  may  in  its 
actuality  be  so  large  and  so  complicated  as  to  be  difficult 
to  compass  even  when  one  is  on  the  ground.  A  good 
model  may  bring  all  the  essentials  within  a  single  sweep 
of  the  eye.  Usually,  however,  reduced  models  are 
necessarily  less  serviceable  than  the  originals.  Some- 
times they  are  so  diminutive  that  they  degenerate  into 
mere  toys.  A  model  of  the  Colosseum  covering  an  area 
no  greater  than  that  covered  by  a  silver  dollar  is  not 
impressive. 

The  most  effective  and  the  most  accessible  models 
thus  far  produced  are  of  German  manufacture.  The 
Hensell  models  (26  pieces),  illustrative  of  Greek  and 
Roman  history,  are  occasionally  found  in  the  classical 
departments  of  American  colleges,  but  seem  rarely 
to  have  been  used  with  classes  in  history.  They  are 


210  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

suitable  either  for  the  elementary  school  or  for  the  high 
school.  Models  of  special  interest  in  this  series  are  a 
typical  Roman  house,  and  types  of  wearing  apparel 
used  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  with  a  small  lay  figure 
for  displaying  the  apparel.  A  larger  and  better  model 
of  a  Roman  house,  and  a  life-size  figure  for  displaying 
wearing  apparel,  are  included  in  the  Rausch  and  Bliimner 
series.  The  Gall  and  Rebhann  models  of  objects  con- 
nected with  ancient  history  are  also  excellent.  The  field 
of  German  history,  from  prehistoric  times  to  the  nine- 
teenth century,  is  admirably  covered  by  the  Rausch 
models,  representing  more  than  two  hundred  different 
objects,  most  of  them  as  suitable  for  illustrating  general 
European  history  as  for  illustrating  German  history.  All 
of  the  models  to  which  reference  has  been  made  are  con- 
structed with  scrupulous  regard  for  accuracy.  Smaller 
objects  are  reproduced  in  the  exact  size,  shape,  and  color 
of  the  originals,  and  sometimes  in  the  very  kind  of 
material  from  which  the  originals  were  constructed. 
Models  of  larger  objects  are  carefully  made  to  scale. 
It  is,  unfortunately,  impossible  to  point  to  any  similar 
series  illustrative  of  American  history. 

Ordinary  pictures  are  more  abstract  than  models. 
They  cannot,  like  models,  be  seen  from  different  stand- 
points that  introduce  different  backgrounds.  A  single 
picture  of  a  person  or  object  is,  therefore,  necessarily 


MAZING   THE   PAST  REAL  211 

incomplete.  An  impressionist  painter,  we  are  informed, 
needs  twenty  ^canvases,  numerous  changes  of  position, 
and  all  the  changes  of  light  from  sunrise  to  sunset  to 
portray  adequately  a  hayrick.1  The  number  of  can- 
vases that  would  be  needed  to  portray  adequately  a 
human  being  is  not  stated,  but  the  principle  would  seem 
to  require  a  still  greater  number.  Some  painters  have 
met  the  condition  by  exhibiting  on  a  single  canvas  dif- 
ferent "poses "  of  the  same  person.  Some  photographers 
who  advertise  their  ability  to  make  us  "see  ourselves 
as  others  see  us"  are  now  willing  to  take  us  in  triplicate, 
and  even  in  larger  groups  of  ourselves.  Pictures^  are 
really  less  simple  and  less  obvious  than  they  seem,  and 
treatises  on  how  to  look  at  them  are  by  no  means  super- 
fluous. 

Pictorial  illustration  has  long  been  a  familiar  feature 
of  American  textbooks  in  history.  There  has,  how- 
ever, frequently  been  a  lack  of  connection  between  the 
picture  and  the  text  and  a  rather  general  lack  of  en- 
couragement to  pupils  to  use  the  picture.  It  is  still 
rare  to  find  in  textbooks  the  kind  of  verbal  description 
of  the  picture  that  is  needed  to  make  it  really  intelli- 
gible. A  much  better  arrangement  is  found  in  his- 
torical albums  of  the  kind  common  in  Europe.  Lavisse 
and  Parmentier's  Album  Historique,  a  work  in  four 

1  Adams,  Exposition  and  Illustration  in  Teaching,  337. 


212  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

volumes,  covering  the  field  of  European  history,  may  be 
cited  as  an  example.  The  plan  here  followed  is  to  group 
subjects  for  comparison  and  contrast.  The  pictures 
illuminate  the  text  and  the  text  illuminates  the  pictures. 

Europe  has  passed  us  also  in  wall  pictures  designed, 
like  maps,  to  be  seen  by  the  entire  class.  Especially 
noteworthy  are  Lehmann's  Kulturgeschichtliche  Bilder 
Jiir  den  Schulunterricht,  and  Cybulski's  Tabula  quibus 
antiquitates  Greece?  et  Romance  illustrantur.  The  pictures 
in  both  of  these  series  are  constructed  with  minute 
attention  to  accuracy  of  detail,  and  are  reproduced  in 
colors.  Inferior  to  these,  but  still  useful,  are  Lavisse 
and  Parmentier's  Tableaux  d'histoire  de  la  Civilization 
Erancaise,  and  Longman's  historical  wall  pictures  illus- 
trating English  history. 

When  we  enter  the  more  general  field  of  picture  post- 
cards, photographs,  illustrations  in  newspapers,  maga- 
zines, and  books,  lantern  slides,  and  the  like,  there  is 
for  almost  every  country  an  embarrassment  of  riches. 
The  stereoscope,  too,  once  a  familiar  object  on  many  a 
parlor  table,  has  won  a  new  and  wider  recognition,  and 
special  efforts  are  now  being  made  by  such  extensive 
producers  of  stereographs  as  Underwood  and  Underwood 
to  serve  the  interests  of  the  classroom.  The  stereo- 
graph has  the  merit  of  giving  the  effect  of  three  dimen- 
sions and  an  impression  of  size  and  distance  similar  to 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL 

that  obtained  by  the  natural  eye  in  the  position  from 
which  the  picture  was  taken.  Above  all,  the  moving 
picture  machine  has  entered  the  school  and  now  promises 
to  revolutionize  the  visual  aspects  of  history.  A  fore- 
taste of  what  is  to  come  is  afforded  by  the  Edison  kinet- 
oscope,  a  combined  stereopticon  and  moving  picture 
machine,  now  on  the  market  at  a  moderate  price. 

Maps,  charts,  and  diagrams  do  not,  like  models  and 
pictures,  represent  reality  directly.  They  show,  as  a 
rule,  relations  rather  than  actual  objects.  When  we 
say  of  a  few  lines  on  the  blackboard,  "That  looks  like 
France,"  we  mean  usually  that  the  lines  resemble  other 
lines  which  have  come  to  be  associated  with  France. 
A  photograph  of  France  would,  of  course,  look  rather 
different.  A  diagram  may  be  entirely  arbitrary  —  a 
blue  rectangle  to  represent  a  republican  administration 
and  a  pink  rectangle  to  represent  a  democratic  adminis- 
tration, a  dash  of  orange  to  indicate  the  triumph  of 
protection  and  a  dash  of  green  to  indicate  the  demand 
for  free  trade.  It  may,  by  means  of  lines,  triangles, 
rectangles,  or  circles,  represent  with  mathematical 
accuracy  the  populations  and  areas  of  different  states, 
quantities  and  values  of  manufactured  products,  the 
strength  of  armies,  the  cost  of  education,  the  length  of 
reigns,  the  duration  of  ideas  and  the  extent  of  the  terri- 
tory over  which  they  have  prevailed.  It  may  be  in 


214  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

part  pictorial.  The  French  army  may,  for  example,  be 
represented  by  a  Frenchman  in  uniform,  the  Russian 
army  by  a  Russian  in  uniform,  the  latter  being  as  much 
larger  than  the  Frenchman  as  the  Russian  army  is 
larger  than  the  French  army.  Again,  it  has  been  said 
of  one  country  that  each  farmer  carries  two  soldiers  on 
his  back.  The  picture  diagram  maker  expresses  the 
idea  by  drawing  a  farmer  to  life  and  putting  two  sol- 
diers in  uniform  on  his  back. 

Maps,  charts,  and  diagrams  should,  in  general,  aim 
at  simplicity  and  should  avoid  all  unnecessary  elabora- 
tion. Outside  of  an  atlas,  in  which  one  naturally  ex- 
pects to  find  everything,  a  map,  for  example,  should  be 
so  constructed  as  to  focus  attention  upon  the  special 
facts  of  immediate  concern  in  a  particular  history 
lesson.  This  end  is  often  best  attained  by  suppressing 
all  other  details.  A  few  lines  on  the  blackboard  are 
often  sufficient,  and  often  make  a  stronger  appeal  than 
a  complicated  map  or  diagram.  The  simplest  sort  of 
chalk  mark  will  frequently  catch  the  "wandering  eye" 
after  the  wandering  ear  has  ceased  to  respond  to  any- 
thing connected  with  the  lesson.  Experienced  teachers 
who  understand  this  often  use  the  blackboard  to  illu- 
minate situations  for  which  verbal  description  alone 
might  seem  entirely  adequate.  The  statement,  for 
example,  that  Queen  Caroline  served  as  an  intermediary 


MAKING   THE.  PAST  REAL  215 

for  important  communications  between  Walpole  and 
George  II  presents  a  fact  presumably  intelligible  with- 
out elaborate  explanation.  It  may,  however,  fail  to 
interest  a  class  and  may  pass  quite  unheeded.  A  dia- 
gram is  almost  sure  to  arrest  attention.  Let  A  rep- 
resent Walpole,  B,  Queen  Caroline,  and  C,  George  II. 
"The  natural  way  of  communicating  with  the  king 
would  have  been  for  the  minister  to  speak  directly 
to  him;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  important  communi- 
cations usually  took  the  route  indicated  by  the  arrows."  l 


Many  teachers  would  no  doubt  consider  such  an 
illustration  superfluous,  but  the  principle  involved  is 
one  that  deserves  to  be  pondered. 

School  history,  to  be  made  real  and  kept  real,  should 
begin  with  realities  which  can  either  be  observed  directly 
or  which  can  be  represented  directly,  and  should  con- 
tinue throughout  the  school  course  to  provide  frequent 
opportunities  for  appeals  to  such  materials.  But 
when  all  is  said  the  fact  remains  that  most  of  the  reali- 
ties with  which  the  teacher  has  to  deal  are  on  exhibition 
in  verbal  description  only.  Children,  like  the  rest  of 
us,  must  depend  mainly  upon  words  for  impressions 

1  Adams,  Exposition  and  Illustration  in  Teaching,  389. 


2l6  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

even  of  the  externals  of  life  in  the  past.  The  teacher 
is  at  every  stage  confronted  by  the  difficulties  inherent 
in  passing  from  words  to  realities,  and  it  is  largely  be- 
cause these  difficulties  are  not  generally  and  clearly 
recognized  that  school  instruction  in  history  is  so  often 
ineffective.  The  choice  of  facts  is  important  from  the 
point  of  view  both  of  educational  aims  and  of  the  abili- 
ties of  children.  But  no  facts  that  have  their  begin- 
ning and  end  in  empty  words  and  phrases  can  be  of 
much  consequence. 

Precisely  here  lies  the  root  of  our  worst  offending  in 
teaching  history  to  children.  We  begin  early  in  the 
grades  a  liberal  use  of  vague  adjectives  and  of  broad 
generalizations.  We  deal  in  summary  notions,  in  ab- 
stractions, in  figures  of  speech,  sometimes  unconsciously, 
more  often  under  the  delusion  that  short  headings  of 
short  chapters  made  of  short  sentences  of  short  words 
shorten  the  difficulties,  of  historical  instruction.  We 
present  to  children  of  ten  or  eleven  "a  wicked  king, 
John  Lackland,"  "the  most  wicked  king  England  ever 
had,"  and  the  barons  at  Runnymede  compelling  "the 
wicked  king  to  promise  to  give  up  all  his  evil  practices." 
We  show  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  failing,  in  spite  of 
his  title,  to  enrich  Florence,  making  it  only  "grander 
and  more  famous  by  his  administration,"  and  complet- 
ing "that  subversion  of  the  Florentine  Republic  for 


MAKING   THE    PAST   REAL  217 

which  his  father  and  grandfather,"  neither  of  whom 
need  be  further  described,  "had  so  well  prepared  the 
way."  Thus  we  establish  no  doubt  the  association  of 
kingly  wickedness  with  John ;  thus  we  suggest  no  doubt 
that  Lorenzo  had  his  faults.  But  what  is  the  wicked- 
ness of  kings  to  children  of  ten  or  eleven,  and  what, 
within  their  power  of  realization,  were  the  faults  of 
Lorenzo?  The  phrases  are  quoted  from  recent  books 
designed  to  make  history  especially  simple  for  children, 
and  they  are  typical  of  much  of  our  recent  effort  to  serve 
that  benevolent  purpose. 

It  is  easy  to  be  misled  here  by  the  appearance  of 
interest.  There  may  be  interest  hi  things  seen  "  through 
a  glass  darkly."  The  degree  of  interest  may  even  vary 
inversely  with  the  degree  of  intelligibility.  Many  chil- 
dren, and  many  adults,  dwell  with  special  fondness  upon 
words  and  phrases  to  which  they  attach  little  or  no 
meaning.  The  very  vagueness  of  kingly  wickedness 
and  of  subverted  republics  may  stir  the  interest  of 
children.  Some  obscurities  are  necessary  and  even 
desirable.  There  are  realities  that  children  ought  not 
to  realize.  There  are  others  that  may  be  left  obscure 
for  the  mere  joy  of  discovering  in  later  years  what  some 
teacher  or  textbook  really  meant  by  certain  queer 
medleys  of  words  that  lodged  in  our  memories  because 
they  were  queer.  But,  with  all  allowance  for  exceptions, 


2l8  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

the  area  of  unreality  traversed  by  children  in  their  his- 
tory lessons  is  altogether  too  large.  Their  conception 
of  the  past  too  often  is  that  of  the  pupil  who  was  asked 
if  she  could  tell  what  sort  of  looking  man  Alexander 
the  Great  was.  "Why,  no,"  was  the  answer,  "I  thought 
he  was  just  one  of  those  historical  characters."  There 
are  too  many  of  "those  historical  characters"  in  history 
even  in  the  high  school. 

To  point  out  the  defect  is  to  suggest  the  remedy. 
History  throughout  the  elementary  course  should 
abound  in  concrete  details  for  visualizing  persons,  situa- 
tions, events.  In  meeting  this  condition  even  trivialities 
are  permissible.  Facts  spurned  by  the  standard  his- 
torians may  furnish  the  very  touch  needed  to  make  the 
misty  immortals  of  history  really  human.  There  is  a 
place  for  the  hat  that  Napoleon  wore  at  Leipsic,  the 
color  of  the  waistcoat  that  graced  the  person  of  Daniel 
Webster  when  he  replied  to  Hayne,  and,  in  spite  of  a 
recent  intimation  that  such  a  fact  has  no  place  in  his- 
tory at  all,  even  the  color  of  the  horse  that  bore  Wash- 
ington at  the  Battle  of  Monmouth.  The  point  is  not 
that  details  of  this  character  are  important  as  history. 
No  sensible  teacher  would  think  of  having  them  memo- 
rized by  pupils.  They  are  details  to  be  used  for  the 
moment  to  stimulate  the  sense  of  reality  and  then  to 
be  laid  aside.  The  picture  fades;  the  sense  of  reality 


MAKING  THE   PAST  REAL  2 19 

•<• 

remains.  On  the  same  principle  there  is  a  place  for 
even  trivial  details  relating  to  what  "those  historical 
characters"  thought  and  felt. 

The  remedy  is  simple,  but  where  shall  details  be 
found?  There  are  books  for  younger  children  con- 
structed on  the  correct  principle.  They  abound  in  facts 
sufficiently  concrete  and  sufficiently  spurned  by  stand- 
ard historians.  Unfortunately  they  are,  very  often, 
facts  that  ought  also  to  be  spurned  by  teachers  on 
grounds  of  historical  conscience.  The  ordinary  text- 
books  for  older  children  make  little  pretense  of  offering 
particulars.  For  really  suitable  material  the  teacher 
must  "usually  turn  to  contemporary  literature,  especially 
letters,  diaries,  and  personal  reminiscences,  to  a  field, 
that  is,  which  the  average  teacher,  under  present  con- 
ditions, has  little  opportunity  or  inducement  to  culti- 
vate, and  one  that  demands  some  critical  ability  to  cul- 
tivate with  profit.  Many  useful  extracts,  and  many 
clues  to  additional  material,  may,  however,  be  found 
in  the  ordinary  source  books. 

There  is  another  difficulty.  Assuming  that  the 
teacher  has  mastered  the  art  of  accumulating  details, 
how  shall  time  be  found  for  introducing  them?  The 
course  in  history  is  usually  fixed.  There  are  certain 
designated  topics  to  cover  and  a  limited  number  of 
hours  in  which  to  cover  them.  In  many  cases  the  work 


220  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

mapped  out  for  a  given  month  or  a  given  year  can  be 
completed  only  by  reducing  it  to  a  bare  outline.  Such 
conditions  are  discouraging,  but  not  altogether  hope- 
less. It  is  not  essential  that  even  all  elementary  history 
be  reduced  to  particular  individual  facts.  There  must 
be  summaries,  there  must  be  generalizations.  But 
these  have  many  elements  in  common  and  may  be  so 
ordered  that  when  one  summary  or  one  generalization 
has  been  properly  based  upon  its  supporting  particu- 
lars there  will  be  other  summaries  and  other  generaliza- 
tions for  which  the  process  need  not  be  repeated.  They 
will  have  a  meaning  sufficiently  definite  and  real  with- 
out it.  Something  can,  therefore,  be  done  to  vitalize 
the  most  crowded  outline.  More  ought  to  be  possible. 
At  a  moderate  estimate  half  of  the  topics  included  in  an 
average  course  in  the  United  States  might  with  profit 
be  excluded.  The  remaining  half  could  then  be  treated 
with  some  degree  of  fullness.  This  principle  has  already 
been  applied  in  France  and  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  the 
present  effective  teaching  of  history  in  France.  We 
cling  to  our  conventionalized  collections  of  generalities, 
and  when  some  pioneer  gives  us  a  different  treatment  in 
the  form  of  a  relatively  big  book  about  a  few  matters  of 
importance  and  interest  to  the  children  of  to-day,  we  miss 
the  familiar  generalities,  and,  for  the  rest,  declare  that  so 
big  a  book  cannot  be  completed  in  a  single  year. 


MAKING  THE  PAST  REAL  221 

Special  devices  for  utilizing  details  are,  of  course,  not 
entirely  strange  to  American  practice.  In  the  elemen- 
tary school  much  is  made  of  dramatizing  history.  In 
the  best  form  of  this  kind  of  exercise  the  children  them- 
selves compose  the  drama  and  afterward  act  it.  When 
this  is  done  with  proper  material  it  is  a  valuable  exer- 
cise, well  worth  the  time  which  it  takes.  It  compels, 
through  the  demands  of  stage  setting  and  costumes, 
attention  to  the  very  materials  that  are  needed  for 
visualization.  One  class  in  preparing  a  drama  on  Alfred 
the  Great  found  at  once  difficulties  in  the  way  of  having 
the  traditional  prince  wear  every  day  "his  crimson 
velvet  suit."  That  led  to  a  new  sense  of  reality.  All 
of  us  know  how  boys  delight  to  play  Indians,  and  many 
of  us  have  witnessed  plays  on  Indian  life  that  were 
really  illuminating.  But  the  general  tendency  is  to 
base  such  plays  upon  imaginative  rather  than  upon 
historical  material.  Often  the  plays  are  ready-made 
and  these  are  less  effective  for  the  purpose. 

Another  common  device  for  "living  the  past"  is  to 
have  children  write  letters.  Let  them  imagine  them- 
selves in  Tarrytown,  for  example,  at  the  time  of  the 
capture  of  Major  Andre,  and  let  them  write  to  some 
imaginary  friend  in  New  York  an  account  of  the  inci- 
dent and  of  how  it  might  have  affected  them.  One 
teacher,  some  years  ago,  found  this  plan  so  effective 


222  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

that  she  proposed  to  keep  a  seventh  grade  in  history 
occupied  wholly  with  letter  writing. 

Still  another  device  is  to  have  the  children  keep 
diaries.  Let  them  imagine  themselves  in  Boston  in 
April,  1775,  and  let  them  record  what  they  might  have 
seen  or  heard  during  that  month.  Such  an  exercise 
will  often  make  even  dry  official  records  absorbingly 
interesting  to  a  seventh  or  eighth  grade. 

An  exercise  formerly  more  in  vogue  than  at  present, 
and  somewhat  influenced  by  the  old-fashioned  school 
reader,  consisted  in  learning  and  reciting  famous 
speeches.  It  was  an  event  to  be  remembered,  when, 
with  a  proper  historical  setting  given  by  the  teacher, 
one  eighth-grade  boy  came  forth  as  Hayne  and  another 
as  Webster  in  selections  from  the  great  debate. 

These  are  but  illustrations  of  possible  ways  of  making 
the  past  real  through  details  of  a  kind  that  would  ordi- 
narily have  no  place  in  the  history  lesson.  Many,  per- 
haps most  teachers,  would  here  lay  the  chief  stress  on 
imaginative  material,  on  what  we  call  historical  novels 
and  historical  poems.  A  distinction  should  be  made 
between  novels  and  poems  that  are  contemporary  with 
the  conditions  and  events  described  and  those  that 
represent  later  attempts  at  reconstruction.  The  former 
have  often  a  high  value  as  illustrations  of  the  spirit  or 
atmosphere  of  their  times.  The  value  of  the  latter  for 


MAKING  THE  PAST  REAL  223 

history  may  easily  be  exaggerated.  Some  novelists 
have  more  genius  than  some  historians,  but  historical 
novels  as  a  class  are  scarcely  such  miracles  of  recon- 
struction as  the  claims  often  made  in 'book  reviews,  and 
in  papers  read  at  teachers'  gatherings,  might  lead  one  to 
infer.  Their  rather  general  use  in  school  history  has 
been  due  in  part  to  the  tradition  which  so  long  made 
history  a  mere  branch  of  literature,  and  in  part  to  more 
general  acquaintance  with  this  kind  of  material  than 
with  material  more  distinctly  historical. 

If,  during  the  elementary  period,  the  sense  of  reality 
has  been  stimulated  as  it  may  and  ought  to  be  stimu- 
lated, history  in  the  high  school  can  be  essentially 
generalized  history.  There  will  still  be  need  of  descend- 
ing to  particulars,  and  on  occasion,  even  to  trivialities. 
Whatever  the  nature  of  the  training,  there  is  danger  at 
every  stage  of  school  instruction  of  leaving  the  impres- 
sion that  history  deals  with  a  mere  succession  of  dis- 
embodied acts  and  sentiments.  But,  in  the  high  school, 
particulars  included  for  the  purpose  of  lending  reality 
can,  in  the  main,  be  particulars  more  in  keeping  with 
the  dignity  of  standard  historical  treatises. 

The  first  step  toward  the  realization  of  any  aspect 
of  the  past  is  to  realize  the  difficulty.  With  all  the 
advantages  of  local  environment,  of  special  aids  to 
visualization,  and  of  full  and  accurate  verbal  descrip- 


224  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

tion,  the  reality  even  of  the  material  past  will  continue 
'in  large  measure  to  elude  both  pupil  and  teacher. 
"Nothing,"  says  Professor  Morse  Stephens,  "is  more 
difficult  than  to  realize  existence  in  a  bygone  era.  The 
perspective  which  years,  as  they  roll  by,  give  to  past 
ages  emphasizes  certain  salient  points  and  leaves  the 
background  vague,  and  it  is  only  by  saturating  the  mind 
in  contemporary  literature,  diaries,  and  letters,  that  an 
idea  can  be  formed  of  the  ordinary  life  during  a  past 
period.  But  even  then  it  is  difficult  to  convey  to  a 
reader  an  impression  of  a  time  in  which  one  has  not 
lived ;  it  is  more  —  it  is  almost  impossible."  1  The 
teacher  must  none  the  less,  like  the  historian,  attempt 
the  "almost  impossible." 

1  Stephens,  French  Revolution,  n,  361. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  USE  OF  MODELS  AND  PICTURES 

THE  primary  purpose  of  models  and  pictures  in  the 
teaching  of  history  is  to  give  definiteness  to  visual 
imagery.  This  purpose  may  on  first  thought  seem  to 
be  sufficiently  accomplished  by  the  simple  process  of 
exhibiting  models  and  pictures,  with  appropriate  labels 
or  appropriate  oral  description.  The  teacher  has  then 
but  to  follow  the  methods  of  the  museum,  of  the  motion 
picture  theater,  or  of  the  popular  illustrated  lecture. 
The  pupil  has  but  to  lend  his  presence.  Very  often 
nothing  more  is  attempted.  Very  often  teachers  do  not 
appear  to  have  discovered  that  any  other  procedure  is 
either  necessary  or  desirable.  Models  and  pictures, 
they  seem  to  reason,  are  direct  representations  of  reality 
and  make  their  own  appeal  to  the  eye. 

The  exhibition  idea  is  applied  hi  a  variety  of  ways. 
Sometimes  the  pupil  is  merely  told  to  notice  pictures  in 
the  textbook,  or  on  the  walls  of  the  classroom,  or  in 
books  to  which  references  are  made  for  collateral  read- 
ing. Sometimes  he  is  urged  to  visit  museums.  Some- 
times class  periods  are  set  apart  at  convenient  intervals 
Q  225 


226  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

for  stereopticon  views  or  for  the  passing  of  pictures. 
Sometimes  models  or  pictures  are  shown  in  every  reci- 
tation on  the  principle  that  the  pupil  should  constantly 
see  what  he  is  talking  about. 

Faith  in  the  efficacy  of  mere  exhibition  assumes  at 
times  large  proportions.  In  one  prominent  American 
school,  a  Mecca,  twenty  years  ago,  for  numerous  edu- 
cational pilgrimages,  it  was  almost  a  ruling  idea.  Visi- 
tors were  directed  with  special  pride  to  the  catalogue 
of  "illustrative  materials."  There  were  post-cards, 
posters,  photographs,  chromos,  pictures  clipped  from 
newspapers,  from  magazines,  and  from  books,  in  endless 
profusion.  Two  complete  sets  of  Harper's  Weekly, 
covering  the  period  from  1861-1865,  had,  for  example, 
been  purchased  and  cut  up  for  the  illustrations.  The 
collection  was  so  comprehensive  and  was  so  carefully 
classified  that  materials  for  almost  any  conceivable 
topic  could  be  brought  together  at  a  moment's  notice. 
One  of  the  chief  duties  of  the  teacher  in  dealing  with 
any  subject  that  admitted  of  this  kind  of  illustration 
seemed  to  be  to  pass  at  the  right  moment  the  right  pic- 
ture. A  single  lesson  might  bring  into  circulation  the 
collections  on  subjects  as  heterogeneous  as  spiders, 
elephants,  threshing  machines,  and  women's  hats. 
Here  and  there  the  teacher  interjected  comments,  and 
occasionally  pupils  asked  questions.  But  in  the  main 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS  AND   PICTURES  227 

the  pictures  appeared  to  be  their  own  excuse  for  being. 
They  were  merely  looked  at  and  then  passed  on.  This 
may  be  accepted  as  an  extreme  example  of  converting 
the  class  recitation  in  large  part  into  a  picture  show, 
but  it  represents  an  ideal  approximated  in  many  of  our 
most  progressive  schools. 

We  live  in  a  picture  age.  Few  popular  lecturers  on 
any  subject  that  lends  itself  to  the  treatment  now  ven- 
ture before  the  public  without  at  least  a  stereopticon. 
Many  subjects  require  the  more  lifelike  motion  picture. 
The  multitudinous  processes  of  nature  an,d  the  mul- 
titudinous activities  of  humanity  daily  and  nightly 
move  across  the  screen  in  theaters,  in  churches,  in  club 
rooms,  and  even  in  private  homes. 

The  exhibition  method  has  the  merit  of  simplicity. 
It  can  be  applied  by  any  teacher.  It  furnishes  under 
average  conditions  a  certain  amount  of  entertainment. 
It  evokes  for  the  moment  a  certain  kind  of  definite 
imagery.  But  its  value  as  a  means  of  recalling  reality 
is  easily  overestimated.  What  is  the  nature  of  the 
imagery?  Given  a  model  of  a  Roman  house,  does  the 
pupil  see  the  model  or  a  Roman  house?  Given  a  pic- 
ture of  Washington  crossing  the  Delaware,  does  the 
pupil  see  the  picture,  or  men  in  boats  afloat  on  a  river? 
If  the  images  evoked  are  merely  images  of.  models  and 
pictures,  is  the  process  of  visualization  complete? 


228  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

Granting  that  models  and  pictures  are  direct  represen- 
tations of  reality,  are  they  substitutes  for  reality? 

These  questions  suggest  their  own  answer.  Models 
and  pictures  are  not  entirely  concrete  exhibits.  Most 
of  them  are  in  fact  in  a  sense  abstractions.  They  are 
representations  and  not.  reproductions.  They  embody 
selected  qualities,  ranging  from  those  of  a  particular 
object,  place,  or  person,  to  those  of  a  composite  original. 
The  Rausch  model  of  the  Gutenberg  printing  press 
looks  like  the  actual  Gutenberg  press  except  in  bulk. 
Abstraction,  that  is,  is  confined  to  size.  The  Hensell 
model  of  a  Roman  house  represents,  on  the  scale  of  one 
to  fifty,  a  generalized  Roman  house,  and  is  itself  a  gen- 
eralization. Degrees  of  abstraction  similar  in  kind  are 
r  presented  by  pictures.  Models  and  pictures  must, 
therefore,  be  consciously  treated  as  aids  to  visualiza- 
tion and  not  as  objects  to  be  themselves  visualized. 
They  are  materials  to  be  developed.  The  direct  appeal 
to  the  eye  is  in  most  cases  only  a  beginning.  Except 
in  those  instances  in  which  they  reproduce  not  only 
the  form  and  color,  but  the  actual  dimensions  of  the 
original,  even  models  leave  constructive  work  for  the 
imagination.  Imagination  that  reaches  the  realities 
which  models  and  pictures  are  designed  to  represent 
involves  mental  processes  higher  than  those  of  receiv- 
ing messages  from  the  retina. 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS  AND    PICTURES  2 29 

The  first  step  should  usually  be  to  form  a  conception 
of  size.  Good  models  either  smaller  or  larger  than  the 
objects  which  they  represent  are  constructed  to  scale 
and  supply,  therefore,  direct  data.  Knowing  the  scale, 
pupils  may  be  asked  to  measure  first  the  model  and 
then  the  space  to  be  embraced  by  the  image.  The  result 
should,  so  far  as  conditions  admit,  be  expressed  in 
familiar  terms  —  about  the  size  of  a  penny,  a  lead  pen- 
cil, a  schoolroom  chair ;  as  large  as  the  teacher's  desk, 
the  schoolroom,  the  school  building,  the  school  yard. 
With  models  representing  objects  of  such  magnitude  as  to 
render  the  actual  marking  out  of  dimensions  for  the  image 
impracticable,  there  should  be,  in  similar  familiar  terms, 
after  measuring  the  model,  at  least  a  conscious  attempt 
at  rough  approximation  —  a  dozen  times  the  size  of  the 
school  building  or  the  school  yard,  twice  the  height  of 
the  highest  church  steeple  in  the  town,  half  the  length  of 
the  longest  street  in  town,  as  big  as  all  the  buildings  in 
a  city  block  put  together.  Ordinary  pictures  require 
a  different  treatment.  A  human  figure  in  the  fore- 
ground may  look  taller  than  a  five-story  building  in  the 
background.  Foot-rule  measure,  it  is  evident,  is  here 
inapplicable.  The  pupil  must  begin  at  the  other  end 
of  the  problem.  He  must  start  with  images  of  a  human 
figure  and  of  a  five-story  building  and  adjust  to  these 
images  the  elements  furnished  by  the  picture. 


230  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

The  process  of  arriving  at  a  conception  of  size,  how- 
ever transparent,  needs  the  careful  attention  of  teachers. 
The  child  in  a  Chicago  school  who  expressed  the  opinion 
that  a  cow  was  "an  animal  about  the  size  of  a  mouse" 
had  reached  an  entirely  reasonable  conclusion.  She 
had  observed  in  her  school  reader  a  picture  of  a  cow 
and  a  picture  of  a  mouse,  and  the  one  was  in  fact  about 
the  size  of  the  other.  Having  seen  a  mouse,  but  never 
a  cow,  she  naturally  adjusted  the  pictures  to  her  image 
of  a  mouse.  Many  children,  and  some  adults,  habitually 
read  into  pictures  magnitudes  far  more  innocent  of 
reality  than  the  cow  and  mouse  example.  Even  with 
such  precautions  as  are  suggested  by  conscious  and  intel- 
ligent attempts  to  realize  actual  proportions  the  results 
are  often  crude.  An  image  can  with  a  fair  degree  of 
exactness  be  magnified  to  the  bulk  of  some  object  in  the 
schoolroom  or  to  the  bulk  of  the  schoolroom  itself. 
An  image  of  a  building  twelve  times  the  size  of  the 
school  building  is  necessarily  far  less  exact.  Even  in 
dealing  with  the  simplest  of  units  numerical  compari- 
sons may  convey  very  indefinite  impressions.  Merely 
to  draw  offhand  on  the  blackboard  a  chalk  line  about 
twelve  times  the  length  of  a  given  chalk  line  is  an  exer- 
cise of  some  difficulty  for  the  average  pupil.  Fortu- 
nately, mathematical  exactness  in  imagery  is,  for  most 
purposes,  unnecessary.  It  can  be  approximated,  in 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS   AND  PICTURES  231 

cases  that  require  it,  only  by  actually  measuring  off  the 
space  to  be  embraced  by  the  image. 

Having  formed  a  general  impression  of  size,  the  pupil 
is  prepared  for  an  examination  of  details.  With  a 
model  or  picture  before  him  he  may  be  told  merely 
that  he  is  to  endeavor  to  see  all  the  time,  not  the  model 
or  picture,  but  the  "real  thing,"  and  that  he  is  to  report 
what  he  sees.  He  is  not  likely  the  first  time  such  a 
task  is  imposed  upon  him,  whether  in  the  grades  or  in 
the  high  school,  to  see  very  much.  The  first  time,  and 
the  hundredth  time,  he  is  likely  to  need  the  stimulus 
of  guiding  questions  asked  by  the  teacher.  But  the 
aim  should  be  so  to  develop  the  resourcefulness  of  the 
pupil  that  he  may  in  time  himself  ask  the  questions 
that  may  profitably  be  asked  of  models  and  pictures. 

With  clear  visualization  the  primary  purpose  of 
models  and  pictures  in  the  history  class  is  fulfilled. 
But  there  are  other  purposes  that  may  and  ought  to  be 
served.  The  sense  of  reality  is  important,  but  reality 
itself  must,  after  all,  be  interpreted.  It  must,  to  be 
really  useful,  leave  behind,  not  only  images,  but  ideas. 
Models  and  pictures  are  aids  to  visualization ;  they  may 
also  be  aids  to  interpretation.  They  stimulate  imagery ; 
they  may  also  stimulate  thought.  Observation,  analy- 
sis, comparison,  classification  of  data,  and  generaliza- 
tion should  and  may  go  hand  in  hand. 


232  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

We  have  before  us,  let  us  say,  the  Hensell  model  of  a 
Roman  house.  We  note  that  the  scale  of  construc- 
tion is  one  to  fifty.  We  measure  the  model  and  express 
in  terms  of  the  school  building  the  dimensions  of  the 
magnified  image  to  be  formed.  We  endeavor  to  hold 
the  magnified  image  throughout  the  exercise,  and,  as 
we  go  on,  to  adjust  the  various  parts  of  the  model  to 
that  image.  We  examine  the  model  as  a  whole.  Does 
it  represent  a  town  or  a  country  house?  Probably  a 
town  house.  What  leads  us  to  think  so?  The  projec- 
tion in  front  shows  a  sidewalk  and  a  street  paved  with 
stones.  The  projection  on  one  side  shows  another 
street.  It  seems  to  be  a  corner  house.  We  observe 
the  walls.  What  kind  of  building  material  do  they 
represent?  There  are  no  windows  in  the  first  story. 
How  does  the  light  get  hi?  We  look  in  through  the 
front  door.  Is  the  interior  well  lighted?  We  observe 
the  roof.  What  are  the  materials  and  how  does  the 
roof  slope?  There  are  two  rectangular  openings.  We 
look  through  one  and  see  a  sort  of  basin  set  in  a  mosaic 
floor.  We  look  through  the  other  and  see  a  garden  sur- 
rounded by  a  portico  of  Doric  columns.  We  take  off 
the  roof.  What  is  the  general  arrangement  of  the 
rooms?  The  interior  seems  to  be  divided  into  two 
parts.  How  are  they  connected? 

We  continue  our  examination,   with  measurements 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS  AND  PICTURES  233 

when  necessary,  until  we  have  a  fairly  complete  image. 
We  then  turn  to  a  comparison  with  the  house  in  which 
we  ourselves  live.  Is  the  Roman  house  larger  or  smaller 
than  the  house  in  which  we  live?  Which  has  the 
greater  number  of  rooms?  How  do  the  rooms  in  the 
Roman  house  compare  in  size  with  our  own  rooms? 
Which  of  the  two  houses  has  the  greater  amount  of 
space  for  rooms?  Which  of  the  two  is  the  more  suit- 
able for  a  small  city  lot  ?  for  a  large  city  lot  ?  Why  ? 
Which  of  the  two  -is  the  more  easily  heated  ?  the  more 
easily  ventilated  ?  Which  has  the  better  light  ?  Which 
is  the  more  attractive  to  look  at  on  the  outside  ?  on  the 
inside?  Which  seems  to  offer  the  greater  amount  of 
comfort?  The  Roman  house  appears  to  look  in.  Does 
the  house  in  which  we  live  look  in  or  out?  The  ques- 
tions are  still  based  on  observation.  Assuming  some 
knowledge  of  general  conditions,  we  now  pass  to  ques- 
tions of  another  kind.  What  conditions  in  Roman  life 
favored  the  Roman  arrangement?  Would  the  kind  of 
house  in  which  we  live  have  been  adapted  to  Roman 
conditions?  Why?  Would  a  house  of  the  Roman 
type  be  adapted  to  conditions  in  our  own  community 
to-day?  Why?  Do  the  Romans  of  to-day  build 
houses  of  the  ancient  Roman  type?  Are  there  in 
America  such  houses? 
Exercises  of  this  general  character  can  be  made  a 


234  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

feature  of  history  teaching  at  any  stage  of  the  ele- 
mentary or  secondary  school.  In  the  lower  grades  some 
of  the  questions  would  need  to  be  made  more  -concrete 
and  more  hints  of  what  to  look  for  would  need  to  be 
given.  But  from  the  beginning  ideas  can  be  induced 
to  flow  and  to  find  expression.  In  the  high  school,  in- 
stead of  starting  with  the  model  itself,  we  may  start 
with  the  textbook  lesson  and  collateral  reading.  A 
chapter  like  that  on  the  Roman  house  in  Johnston's 
Private  Life  of  the  Romans  may  be  assigned.  The 
different  parts  of  the  house  may  then  be  given  their 
Roman  names.  The  uses  to  which  the  different  parts 
were  put  can  be  discussed.  The  range  of  comparison, 
judgment,  and  generalization  can  be  extended.  High 
school  pupils  can  be  led  to  see  quite  definitely  how 
Roman  needs,  habits,  and  ways  of  looking  at  the  world 
determined  the  Roman  house,  and  how  the  Roman 
house  determined  some  Roman  customs. 

The  most  desirable  pictures  are,  for  younger  pupils, 
those  that  tell  a  story.  The  Lehmann  wall  pictures  are, 
preeminently  of  this  type.  One  of  them,  for  example, 
represents  the  interior  of  a  mediaeval  town.  Before  us 
lies  a  part  of  the  market.  We  see  at  once  that  it  is 
paved.  We  see  also  that  it  is  located  in  an  important 
quarter  of  the  town,  for  the  town  hall  looks  out  upon  it 
and  it  is  surrounded  by  imposing  buildings.  Near  the 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS   AND  PICTURES  235 

town  hall  is  a  drinking  fountain  surmounted  by  a  statue 
of  Roland.  In  the  background  rises  a  cathedral  and  in 
the  distance  a  castle.  Hints  of  mediaeval  life  abound 
—  merchants  and  traders,  wagons  loaded  with  goods, 
armed  men  on  horseback  in  attendance ;  citizens  of  the 
town  jostling  strangers;  pigs,  cows,  ducks,  geese,  and 
chickens,  at  large  in  the  narrow,  unpaved  streets  that 
radiate  from  the  market  place.  The  picture  is  in  a 
measure  self-explanatory  and,  apart  from  measurement, 
can  be  treated  in  the  manner  suggested  for  the  Roman 
house. 

While  models  and  pictures,  properly  questioned, 
furnish  to  a  certain  extent  materials  for  their  own  in- 
terpretation, most  of  them  require  for  really  effective 
presentation  a  considerable  range  of  outside  information. 
For  teachers  who  can  read  French  and  German  there  is 
an  abundance  of  convenient  material.  Descriptive  pam- 
phlets accompany  the  Hensell  models.  A  complete 
and  very  illuminating  guide  to  the  Lehmann  pictures  is 
furnished  by  the  commentary  prepared  by  Heymann  and 
Uebel.  Standard  French  and  German  historical  albums 
are  as  valuable  for  their  descriptive  text  as  for  their 
pictures.  But  materials  similar  in  scope  and  purpose 
are  not  as  yet  available  in  English.  The  nearest  ap- 
proach to  a  substitute  is,  perhaps,  to  be  found  in  the 
Baedeker  guidebooks.  These,  for  all  the  countries 


236  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

for  which  they  have  been  issued,  contain  brief  but 
definite  descriptions  of  the  most  important  places  and 
remains  likely  to  suggest  themselves  for  representation 
in  models  and  pictures.  For  additional  information 
the  various  special  treatises  devoted  to  life  in  the  differ- 
ent countries  must  be  consulted. 

Often  models  and  pictures,  especially  the  latter,  are 
designed  to  convey  aesthetic  impressions  as  well  as  infor- 
mation. They  are  representations  of  beautiful  realities, 
or  beautiful  dreams  of  reality,  or  at  least  beautiful 
dreams.  The  emphasis  is  upon  the  adjective.  The 
great  artistic  creations  of  the  world,  whatever  their 
form,  are  themselves  among  the  realities  which  history 
is  called  upon  to  describe.  In  such  cases  a  feeling  for 
beauty  becomes  a  necessary  part  of  the  interpretative 
process,  and  the  cultivation  of  a  feeling  for  beauty  an 
end  to  be  striven  for.  At  first  this  must  be  largely  a 
matter  of  letting  the  feeling  grow  by  what  it  feeds  upon. 
Children  are  made  acquainted  with  the  appearance  of 
some  of  the  "best  things"  in  art.  Forms,  proportions, 
harmony  of  colors,  and  composition  are  left  to  make  such 
appeal  as  they  can.  Experiment  has  shown  that  children 
frequently  learn  to  like  the  best  merely  by  becoming 
accustomed  to  seeing  the  best.  Without  conscious 
analysis  they  begin  early  to  recognize  some  of  the  most 
striking  qualities  of  artistic  expression  and  to  associate 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS  AND   PICTURES  237 

particular  qualities  with  particular  artists.  They  will 
say  of  one  picture,  "That  looks  like  a  Raphael,"  and  of 
another,  "That  looks  like  a  Botticelli."  To  have  ad- 
vanced even  to  this  point  and  to  like  a  picture  because  it 
looks  like  a  Raphael  or  a  Botticelli  is  no  small  gain.  It  is, 
perhaps,  as  far  as  the  appreciation  of  artistic  achieve- 
ment need  go  in  the  history  lesson  in  the  grades,  and  is, 
it  may  be  added,  farther  than  it  now  goes  in  many  high 
schools.  But  there  may  be  in  the  upper  grades,  and 
should  be  in  the  high  school,  some  conscious  analysis, 
some  attempt  to  advance  beyond  the  pupil's  "I  like  it," 
or  "I  don't  like  it,"  towards  standards  of  appreciation 
set  up  by  the  cultivated  world,  some  suggestion  of  the 
experiences,  aspirations,  and  special  modes  of  expression, 
of  creators  of  work  of  supreme  excellence.1 

Some  persons,  places,  and  objects,  associated  with 
world-significant  events,  some  buildings,  statues,  and 
paintings,  crowned  by  humanity  as  highest  and  best, 
should  be  so  definitely  impressed  that  subsequent  rep- 
resentations of  them  in  models  or  in  pictures  may  be 
recognized  at  once  and  without  labels.  Pupils  learn 
readily  to  know  pictures  of  George  Washington,  of  the 
Athenian  Acropolis,  of  Westminster  Abbey,  of  the 
Capitol  at  Washington,  and  find  pleasure  in  the  knowing. 

1  For  illustrations  of  how  this  may  be  done  see  Caffin,  How  to  Study 
Pictures. 


238  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

They  should  be  encouraged  to  extend  the  list  by  exer- 
cises in  identifying  pictures  without  labels.  Knowing 
one  view  of  a  building,  or  one  portrait  of  a  person,  they 
may  be  tested  on  a  different  view  or  a  different  portrait. 
Knowing  the  portrait  of  a  person  at  the  age  of  sixty, 
they  may  be  tested  on  a  portrait  of  the  same  person 
at  the  age  of  twenty  or  of  ten.  A  single  exercise  of  the 
latter  kind  often  changes  materially  the  conception  of 
portraits  in  general.  The  tendency,  even  on  the  part 
of  some  adults,  is  to  see  a  given  historical  character  at 
any  stage  of  his  development  through  some  one  familiar 
picture.  Extending  the  range  of  the  test,  pupils  may  be 
asked  to  find  in  a  collection  of  unlabeled  pictures  certain 
specified  persons,  or  objects,  or  artistic  creations.  Going 
still  further,  they  may  be  asked  without  any  hints  to 
identify  all  the  pictures  in  such  a  collection. 

The  study  of  models  and  pictures  should  not  be  con- 
fined to  isolated  examples.  The  subjects  represented 
are  presumably  related  to  other  subjects  hi  the  lesson. 
They  should  also,  so  far  as  possible,  be  related  to  each 
other.  Models  and  pictures  should,  therefore,  so  far  as 
possible,  be  grouped  for  comparative  study.  They 
should  be  used,  not  merely  to  convey  impressions  of 
individual  objects,  but  to  illustrate  development. 

Models  and  pictures  impose  upon  their  makers  severer 
tests  of  knowledge  than  are  imposed  by  verbal  description 


THE   USE   OF  MODELS   AND  PICTURES  239 

and,  if  properly  used,  leave  more  definite  impressions. 
The  artist  who  paints  royal  purple  must  show  what  he 
really  conceives  royal  purple  to  be.  He  must  commit 
himself  definitely.  If  his  conception  is  wrong,  his  error 
will  be  at  once  apparent  to  those  who  know  royal  purple. 
The  writer  can  describe  royal  purple  as  warm  or  cold, 
subdued  or  dazzling,  without  revealing  the  fullness  either 
of  his  knowledge  or  of  his  ignorance.  It  follows,  so  far 
as  accuracy  of  representation  is  an  aim  in  the  teaching 
of  history,  that  models  and  pictures  should  be  subjected 
to  criticism  even  more  exacting  than  that  applied  to  the 
text  itself.  This  condition  is  frequently  not  observed. 
Where  the  text  is  itself  uncritical,  little  can  be  expected 
of  the  illustrations.  But  there  are  numerous  examples  of 
critical  texts  accompanied  by  fanciful  and  wholly  incor- 
rect illustrations.  Many  wall  pictures  and  many  collec- 
tions of  lantern  slides  depict  scenes  quite  out  of  harmony 
with  facts.  Long  trains  of  erroneous  associations  are 
thus  started,  from  which  escape  later  is  often  difficult, 
and  sometimes  impossible.  Illustrations  should  be 
chosen  with  due  regard  to  this  danger.  Purely  imagina- 
tive representations,  significant  for  other  reasons  than 
their  alleged  portrayal  of  past  realities,  must  frequently 
be  admitted.  They  are  themselves  a  part  of  the  world's 
stock  of  realities.  But  they  should  be  treated  as  imagina- 
tive representations. 


240  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Any  step  beyond  bare  exhibition^  in  the  use  of  models 
and  pictures  tends  at  once  to  limit  the  number  that  can 
be  used.  The  ideal  of  illustrating  everything  that  admits 
of  illustration  is  objectionable  even  as  an  ideal.  In  the 
first  place,  not  everything  that  admits  of  illustration 
needs  to  be  illustrated.  In  the  second  place,  a  constant 
and  indiscriminate  procession  of  models  and  pictures 
soon  ceases  to  illustrate.  "So  many  things  strike  that 
nothing  strikes."  For  its  own  sake  illustration  should 
be  confined  within  bounds  that  not  only  permit,  but 
encourage,  the  leap  to  reality. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  USE  OF  MAPS 

MAPS  are  representations  of  the  whole  or  of  parts  of  the 
earth's  surface.  They  indicate  location,  direction,  dis- 
tance, extent,  area,  land  and  water  forms.  They  may 
indicate  innumerable  other  conditions :  elevation,  air 
or  ocean  currents,  routes  of  travel,  areas  of  political  or 
other  control,  the  quantity  and  distribution  of  rainfall, 
of  agricultural  and  mineral  productions  and  of  manu- 
factures, the  volume  and  movement  of  trade,  the  number 
and  distribution  of  communicants  of  churches,  of  mem- 
bers of  political  parties,  of  votes  in  an  election,  of  native 
and  foreign-born  persons,  of  illiterates,  of  schools  and 
colleges,  of  readers  of  good  books,  of  frequenters  of  art 
museums,  of  the  number  or  quantity,  and  distribution, 
of  phenomena  of  any  kind  that  can  be  counted  or  meas- 
ured, and  located. 

Historical  facts  are,  as  we  have  seen,  localized  facts. 
They  belong  to  particular  times  and  particular  places. 
If  these  relations  are  suppressed,  the  facts  simply  cease 
to  be  historical.  The  primary  purpose  of  maps  is  to 
assist  the  pupil  in  grasping  the  place  relation,  or,  to  put 
s  241 


242  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

the  matter  more  generally,  to  assist  the  pupil  in  keeping 
history  on  the  earth.  For  some  purposes  mere  localiza- 
tion, or  localization  and  some  impression  of  -distance, 
extent,  or  area,  may  be  sufficient.  That  Jefferson  was 
in  France  and  not  in  Philadelphia  in  1787  is  a  fact  suffi- 
ciently suggestive  in  its  relation  to  the  framing  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  without  visualizing 
France.  That  a  small  island  south  of  the  equator 
would  eliminate  Napoleon  from  European  politics  more 
effectually  than  a  small  island  in  the  Mediterranean  can 
be  understood  without  visualizing  either  of  the  islands. 
Very  often,  however,  the  facts  demand  definite  concep- 
tions of  actual  geographic  conditions.  The  physical 
background  is  needed  to  make  the  facts  real ;  it  is  needed 
also,  in  many  cases,  to  explain  the  facts. 

The  general  use  to  be  made  of  maps  in  the  history  lesson 
may  seem  too  obvious  for  discussion.  For  a  typical 
class  exercise  with  a  wall  map,  have,  first  of  all,  a  pointer 
with  a  rubber  tip.  Place  the  rubber  tip  on  or  near  a 
small  black  circle  and  pronounce  the  word  "Paris." 
Move  the  rubber  tip  to  and  fro  over  a  mass  of  pale  green 
and  pronounce  the  word  "France."  Follow  an  irregular 
black  line  and  pronounce  the  word  "Seine."  Could  any- 
thing be  simpler?  Probably  not,  nor,  in  many  cases, 
more  useless.  The  pupil  very  often  locates  in  this  way, 
not  Paris,  but  only  a  small  black  circle  on  the  map. 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  243 

Talk  about  Paris  and  he  sees  the  circle.  Talk  about 
France  and  he  sees  a  dash  of  pale  green.  Talk  about  the 
Seine  and  he  sees  an  irregular  black  line.  How  often 
does  he,  assuming  that  he  has  not  actually  been  in  France, 
see  anything  else  ?  One  exceptionally  intelligent  teacher 
to  whom  this  question  was  put,  after  searching  his  own 
mind  and  the  minds  of  his  pupils  for  impressions  left 
by  maps,  and  finding  chiefly  maps,  became  so  dissatisfied 
that  he  proceeded  forthwith  to  banish  maps  altogether 
from  his  classroom  and  thereafter  kept  his  geographical 
forms  and  relations  wholly  in  the  air.  He  was  an  ex- 
tremist, but  his  heart  was  right.  He  wanted  his  pupils 
to  locate  and  image  realities,  and  he  recognized  that  to 
keep  history  on  a  map  may  be  keeping  it  on  the  earth  only 
in  the  sense  that  the  map  itself  is  necessarily  on  the  earth. 
Exercises  of  the  pointing  type  seem  to  be  based  upon 
one  of  two  general  assumptions.  Either  the  map  is  taken 
to  be  a  picture,  that  is,  a  direct  representation  of  reality, 
or  else  the  habit  of  interpreting  maps  is  assumed  to  have 
been  so  firmly  established  in  the  geography  class  that 
pupils  naturally  carry  it  over  into  the  history  class.  Both 
of  these  assumptions  are  at  least  debatable.  Maps  have 
pictorial  features.  They  do  convey  direct  impressions 
of  some  geographical  forms.  Old-fashioned  maps  fre- 
quently sketch  actual  objects,  trees  and  animals  on  the 
land,  and  fish  in  the  sea.  But  even  pictures,  as  we  have 


244  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

seen,  require  interpretation,  and  a  map  is  ordinarily  in 
most  respects  not  a  picture.  It  is  rather  a  more  or  less 
conventionalized  diagram,  and  its  value  for  historical  in- 
struction depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  is  inter- 
preted. That  children  in  this  enlightened  day  learn 
to  read  maps  in  the  geography  class  may  be  readily 
granted,  but  evidence  of  their  ability  or  inclination  to 
read  maps  in  the  history  class  is  often  wanting.  In  the 
elementary  school,  with  the  same  teacher  commonly  in 
charge  both  of  geography  and  history,  the  geography  in 
the  history  class  ought  to  be  at  least  as  good  as  in  the 
geography  class.  But  this  is  by  no  means  necessarily 
the  case.  An  excellent  sixth-grade  teacher,  after  discuss- 
ing the  mountains  of  France  in  a  geography  lesson,  with 
the  same  pupils  and  with  the  same  physical  map  of 
France,  discovered  in  the  history  lesson  that  France  is  a 
level  country  and  that  this  condition  made  the  establish- 
ment of  a  centralized  monarchy  easy  and  natural. 

The  simplest  questions,  and  those  most  frequently 
asked  of  maps,  relate  to  mere  location.  Where  in  the 
world  is  France  and  where  in  France  are  Paris  and  the 
Seme  ?  We  point  to  Paris  on  a  map.  Does  that  locate 
Paris  for  us?  Undoubtedly,  provided  we  have  a  sense 
of  direction  and  some  conception  of  the  distance  of  Paris 
from  our  own  position,  provided,  that  is,  we  can  supple- 
ment our  pointing  at  Paris  on  the  map  by  pointing  at 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  245 

actual  Paris  and  can  realize  the  miles  that  separate  us 
therefrom.  But  how  many  of  us  are  accustomed  to  meet 
the  conditions  of  the  proviso  ?  For  answer  let  the  aver- 
age reader  apply  a  few  simple  tests  to  himself. 

Direction  and  distance  from  the  pupil's  own  position 
are  both  plainly  involved  in  any  definite  idea  of  location. 
It  is  not  enough  that  he  should  think  the  points  of  the 
compass  in  terms  of  the  map,  calling  the  top  north  and 
the  right  east.  It  is  essential  that  he  should  feel  actual 
direction.  Moreover,  the  top  of  the  map  may  or  may  not 
be  north,  the  right  of  the  map  may  or  may  not  be  east. 
Direction  is,  of  course,  indicated  by  parallels  and  me- 
ridians, and  when  these  are  represented  as  curved  lines, 
the  top  and  side  idea  of  direction  may  easily  prove  mis- 
.  leading.  Pupils  should  be  trained  to  follow  parallels 
and  meridians  for  direction,  but  even  then,  in  dealing 
with  large  areas,  curved  lines  are  often  confusing.  Direc- 
tion is  grasped  most  easily  when  parallels  and  meridians 
are  shown  as  straight  lines.  It  is  a  good  plan,  therefore, 
with  younger  pupils,  to  have  constantly  at  hand,  for  use  (/ 
in  connection  with  more  special  maps,  both  a  Mercator 
projection  of  the  world  and  a  globe.  The  procedure  is 
simple.  Let  the  pupil  first  note  on  the  Mercator  his  own 
position.  With  one  pointer  placed  flat  against  the  map 
let  him  connect  this  position  with  the  place  to  be  located. 
With  another  pointer  similarly  placed  let  him  indicate 


246  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

the  parallel  passing  through  his  own  position.  Thus: 
A  being  the  pupil's  own  position  and  C  the  place  to  be 
located,  AC  will  be  the  position  of  the  first  pointer  and 
AB  of  the  second.  Keeping  the  angle  and  removing  the 
pointers  from  the  Mercator,  it  only  remains  to  point  AB 

toward  the  west  or 
toward  the  east,  as  the 
special  case  may  re- 
<(oT!f-  quire,  with  the  angle 
in  a  plane  parallel  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  to  have 
AC  indicate  roughly  the  actual  direction  of  AC.  If  the 
distance  represented  by  AC  is  so  great  as  to  require 
allowance  for  the  curvature  of  the  earth,  it  may  be  desir- 
able to  lay  off  AB  and  AC  on  a  globe.  In  any  event,  be- 
fore proceeding  to  the  details  of  a  special  map,  the  pupil 
should  have  a  feeling  of  the  direction  and  some  realization 
of  the  distance  of  C  from  his  own  position.  Places  near 
C  can  then  be  located  by  reference  to  their  direction  and 
distance  from  C. 

The  aim  of  exercises  of  this  kind,  it  is  perhaps  needless 
to  state,  is  not  to  fix  in  memory  the  directions  and  dis- 
tances from  the  pupil's  own  position  of  all  places  and 
countries  mentioned  in  the  history  lesson.  A  few  of 
those  to  which  reference  is  most  frequently  made  should 
be  thus  fixed,  but  the  chief  ami  is  to  give  the  pupil  a  sense 
of  where  he  is  in  history  while  he  is  there.  Nor  should 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  247 

such  exercises  be  repeated  every  time  a  place  or  country 
is  mentioned.    What  should  be  done  is  to  establish  the     / 
habit  of  associating  real  direction  and  real  distance  with 
location. 

Other  familiar  questions  asked  of  maps  relate  to  extent 
and  area.  Estimates  of  these  as  represented  on  maps 
are  usually  vague.  Where  the  differences  are  very  per- 
ceptible pupils  recognize,  of  course,  that  one  coast  line  is 
longer  or  shorter  than  another  coast  line,  and  that  the  area 
of  one  country  is  greater  or  less  than  the  area  of  another 
country.  But  relatively  few  pupils  are  able  to  recog- 
nize ratios  as  simple  as  i  to  2  or  3  to  4.  Still  fewer  can 
approximate  a  i  to  4,  a  5  to  6,  or  a  7  to  8  ratio.  The 
teacher  who  doubts  this  can  easily  test  the  matter.  The 
relative  extent  north  and  south  of  Norway,  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Spain  can,  for  example,  be  represented  by 
lines  in  either  of  the  following  ways : 


Norway  . 


Great  Britain 


France 


Spain. 


Let  the  line  representing  the  extent  of  Great  Britain  be 
taken  as  i.  How  many  will  see  without  actual  measure- 
ment that  Norway  will  then  be  approximately  15,  France 
f,  and  Spain  f  ? 


248 


TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 


Again  the  areas  of  continents  can  be  represented  in 
either  of  the  following  ways : 


Asia 


Aria 

Africa 

North  America 

Etc. 


Let  Europe  be  taken  as  i.  How  many  will  see  without 
actual  measurement  that  Asia  will  then  be  approximately 
4|,  Africa  3,  North  America  2,  South  America  if,  and 
Australia  f  ? 

Where  exact  comparisons  are  desired  extent  should 
be  stated  in  miles  and  areas  in  square  miles.  Where 
only  rough  approximations  are  desired  there  should  at 
least  be  conscious  appeals  to  the  scale  of  miles  in  esti- 
mating extent  and  to  some  standard  unit  of  surface  in 
estimating  areas.  For  the  American  pupil  the  most  ob- 
vious unit  of  surface  is  the  state  in  which  the  pupil  lives. 
But  if  this  happens  to  be  Texas,  the  unit  will  be  too  large ; 
if  it  happens  to  be  Rhode  Island,  the  unit  will  be  too 
small.  In  such  cases  some  other  state  must  be  chosen. 
In  any  event  it  is  necessary  to  have  some  unit  and  to 
realize  the  area  of  the  unit.  For  pupils  who  have  trav- 
eled even  a  little  this  is  not  difficult.  For  others  such 
distances  as  have  been  actually  experienced  must  be  taken 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  249 

as  the  basis.  At  the  very  least  the  area  of  the  community 
can  be  grasped.  This  can  be  compared  with  the  area  of 
the  county,  and  the  latter  with  the  area  of  the  state. 
The  ideal  arrangement  would  then  be  to  have  the  state 
represented  hi  every  map  used,  and  on  the  same  scale 
as  the  rest  of  the  map.  Such  an  arrangement  has  been 
adopted,  with  France  as  the  unit,  in  a  number  of  the 
Vidal-Lablache  maps.  In  America,  with  a  state  as  a 
unit,  there  would  need  to  be  a  set  of  maps  for  each 
state,  which  is,  of  course,  scarcely  practicable.  Some  of 
the  atlases  take  one  state  as  a  unit  and  some  another ; 
some  of  them  have  different  states  for  different  maps. 
The  pupil  is,  therefore,  called  upon  to  form  conceptions 
of  the  areas  of  such  states  as  happen  to  be  used  in 
the  maps  placed  before  him. 

At  best  the  relative  areas  of  countries  are  realized 
vaguely  in  looking  at  ordinary  maps  in  the  ordinary  way. 
One  ingenious  teacher,  conscious  of  this  condition  and 
desirous  of  improving  it  for  the  countries  of  Europe, 
"made  a  tracing  of  the  whole  continent  from  the  wall 
map,  then  he  colored  each  of  the  countries  with  a  flat 
wash,  next  he  cut  out  all  the  countries  and  mounted 
Russia  on  a  sheet  of  paper  that  just  comfortably  received 
it.  After  this  he  got  a  series  of  sheets  of  paper  of  the  exact 
size  used  to  mount  Russia,  and  pasted  on  each  of  them 
one  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  The  amount  of 


250  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

white  margin  in  the  case  of  small  countries  like  Denmark 
and  Belgium  certainly  emphasized  their  relative  poverty 
of  area."  1  A  map  of  the  United  States  cut  up  in  the 
same  way  would  yield  new  and  interesting  impressions 
of  individual  states. 

A  standing  source  of  confusion  in  comparing  maps  of 
different  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  is  the  use  of  different 
scales.  The  new  Century  Atlas,  for  example,  allots  a 
double  page  to  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  another 
double  page  to  Switzerland,  and  another  double  page  to 
Russia.  Wall  maps  have  one  scale  for  Europe  and 
another  scale  for  North  America.  ''  A  uniform  map  of  the 
world  would  greatly  simplify  the  entire  problem  of  map 
/''interpretation,  and  such  a  map  is  now,  by  international 
agreement,  actually  in  course  of  construction. 

Another  source  of  confusion  is  the  use  of  different  map 
projections.  In  the  familiar  Mercator  projection,  for 
example,  the  meridians  are  represented  as  parallel 
straight  lines.  There  is  thus  a  distortion  of  longitudes 
away  from  the  equator.  At  latitude  60  a  degree  of 
longitude  on  the  globe  is  only  half  the  length  of  a  degree 
of  longitude  at  the  equator.  On  a  Mercator  projection 
the  mathematical  proportions  are,  however,  preserved 
by  distortions  of  latitude  corresponding  to  distortions 
of  longitude,  that  is,  by  representing  parallels  as  farther 

1  Adams,  Exposition  and  Illustration,  362. 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  251 

and  farther  apart  away  from  the  equator.  Greenland, 
measured  in  degrees  on  a  Mercator,  while  thus  mathe- 
matically correct,  looks  as  big  as  Africa,  the  actual  size 
of  which  is  equivalent  to  about  twenty  Greenlands.  The 
pupil  should  at  least  be  made  conscious  that  there  are 
(different  kinds  of  map  projections  and  that  when  any 
considerable  part  of  the  earth's  surface  is  represented  the 
relative  areas  of  the  same  countries,  and  even  their  shapes, 
as  seen  by  the  eye,  vary  somewhat  with  the  kind  of 
projection.1 

Ideas  of  mere  location,  of  distance,  of  extent,  or  of 
area  may  be  formed  without  seeing  actual  rivers,  lakes, 
oceans,  cities,  or  countries,  and  may,  as  already  sug- 
gested, for  some  purposes  be  sufficient.  Frequently, 
however,  visualization  is  essential.  The  material  back- 
ground is  needed  either  to  make  history  real  or  to  ex- 
plain it. 

Children  usually  learn  in  the  earlier  stages  of  instruc- 
tion to  think  of  maps  in  terms  of  their  own  actual  geo- 
graphical environment.  They  are  given  every  opportu- 
nity and  inducement  to  apply  such  experience  as  they  may 
have  acquired  through  travel.  They  work  at  the  sand 
table.  They  mold  geographical  forms  in  clay.  They 
have  placed  before  them  models  and  pictures.  Their 

1  For  a  discussion  of  map  projection  see  Johnson,  Mathematical 
Geography,  190-225. 


252  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

earlier  excursions  on  a  map  are  likely,  therefore,  to  be 
sufficiently  realistic.  But  the  problem  of  making  maps 
real  seems,  in  many  cases,  to  drop  out  of  the  .teacher's 
consciousness  before  the  habit  of  reading  maps  as  they  are 
supposed  to  be  read  has  been  firmly  established.  In 
the  upper  grades,  so  far  at  least  as  the  history  lesson  is 
concerned,  the  average  pupil  confronted  by  a  map  sees 
very  often  a  map  and  nothing  more.  In  the  high  school 
there  is,  as  a  rule,  little  or  no  instruction  in  geography 
and  the  average  pupil  in  dealing  with  history  continues 
very  often  to  see  in  a  map  a  map  and  nothing  more. 
The  remedy,  where  this  condition  exists,  is  to  appeal  anew 
to  the  pupil's  own  geographical  environment,  to  his  ex- 
perience in  travel,  to  models  and  pictures.  Teachers 
should  appreciate  that  pupils,  whether  in  the  grades  or 
in  the  high  school,  who  have  never  seen  the  ocean  or  a 
mountain,  may  wander  in  outer  darkness  through  ac- 
counts of  matters  as  self-explanatory  to  more  favored 
readers  as  the  search  for  a  harbor  or  for  a  mountain  pass. 
Similarly  dwellers  by  the  sea  or  in  the  mountains  may 
need  special  assistance  in  realizing  even  simple  geo- 
graphical conditions  different  from  those  presented  by 
their  own  environment. 

The  relation  of  geographical  conditions  to  human 
development  has  in  recent  times  attracted  very  general 
attention  and  is  sometimes  claimed  as  a  strictly  modern 


THE   USE  OF  MAPS  253 

discovery.  "Thirty  or  forty  years  ago,"  said  Lord  Bryce 
in  1908,  "  it  was  practically  an  untrodden  field."  1  Forty 
years  earlier  a  writer  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  in  an 
account  setting  forth  the  relation,  looked  back  another 
forty  years  to  find  the  "untrodden"  period.2  Yet 
even  then  the  idea  was  not  entirely  new.  The  physical 
factors  in  civilization,  with  special  reference  to  the 
influence  of  climate,  had  been  discussed  by  Montesquieu 
in  his  Spirit  of  the  Laws,  published  in  1748.  The  general 
field  of  "geographic  influence"  had,  indeed,  with  much 
learning  and  insight,  been  covered  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
•  tury  by  Bodin.  It  was  even  recognized,  though  only 
incidentally,  by  some  ancient  thinkers,  and  the  father 
of  history  was  himself  not  unmindful  of  it.  Its  general 
recognition  as  a  factor  to  be  invoked  in  the  teaching  of 
history  is,  however,  quite  modern,  and  the  treatment  of 
it  is  still  far  from  satisfactory.  The  usual  plan  is  to 
describe  the  physical  features  of  a  country  and  to  state 
in  general  terms  their  historical  significance  by  way  of 
introduction  to  the  history  of  a  country,  and  then  to 
develop  the  history  without'  any  further  reference  to 
them.  This  falls  far  short  of  meeting  the  needs  of  the 
situation.  The  physical  features  should  be  brought  in 

1  Report,  Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the  Middle  States  and 
Maryland,  1908,  p.  7. 

1  Contemporary  Review,  V,  29-49. 


254  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

specifically  to  explain  specific  conditions  and  events. 
They  should  be  woven  into  the  body  of  the  narrative 
wherever  they  are  needed  and  not  relegated  to  a  bare 
introduction.  There  should  be,  not  merely  one  general 
physical  map,  but  special  detailed  physical  maps  setting 
Jorth  the  special  features  to  be  realized  in  dealing  with 
particular  situations  as  they  arise  in  the  course  of  the 
narrative. 

There  are  other  complications.  Maps  vary  of  neces- 
sity with  the  state  of  geographical  knowledge.  The 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  knew  but  a  small  part  of  the 
world  and  could,  therefore,  represent  but  a  small  part 
of  it.  The  revelation  of  other  parts  to  their  successors 
^ame  slowly.  Great  advances  were  made  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  but,  even  as  late  as  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  multitudes  of  facts  recorded 
on  maps  of  to-day  were  still  unknown.  Again,  many 
geographical  facts  are  themselves  subject  to  change. 
Names  attached  by  one  people  to  mountains,  rivers, 
lakes,  towns,  and  countries  yield  to  other  names  attached 
by  other  peoples.  Old  names  migrate  to  new  localities. 
Boundaries  shift  with  shifting  political  power.  A 
wilderness  becomes  inhabited,  new  towns  and  new  states 
with  new  names  grow  up.  Old  towns  and  old  states 
decay  and  disappear,  regions  once  cultivated  and  inhab- 
ited revert  to  jungle  or  to  desert.  It  is,  then,  a  changing 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  255 

map  that  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  history  class.  The  - 
pupil  is  called  upon  to  realize  the  physical  world,  not  only 
as  we  now  suppose  it  to  be,  but  as  men  of  other  genera- 
tions supposed  it  to  be,  to  identify  in  varying  kinds  of 
representation  and  under  a  variety  of  names  this  or 
that  portion  of  the  earth,  to  associate  with  this  or  that 
name  shifting  forms  and  areas,  in  a  word,  to  view  the 
map  itself  historically,  to  take  account,  that  is,  not  only 
of  geography,  but  of  historical  geography. 

Past  geographical  conditions  can  be  represented  either 
as  contemporaries  supposed  them  to  be  or  as  we  now 
know  them  to  have  been.  The  world  of  Ptolemy's  day, 
for  example,  may  be  set  forth  either  on  a  Ptolemaic 
map  or  on  a  modern  map.  Contemporary  maps  are 
sometimes  important.  The  plans  and  hopes  of  Colum- 
bus need  for  their  elucidation  map  representations  of 
the  kind  used  by  Columbus.  The  grants  of  territory 
in  America  secured  from  the  Crown  by  English  subjects 
in  the  seventeenth  century  need  for  their  elucidation 
seventeenth  century  maps.  History  has  been  made  by 
maps  as  well  as  recorded  in  maps.  In  the  main,  however, 
the  purpose  of  maps  is  to  represent  actual  geographic 
conditions.  The  route  of  Columbus,  however  influenced 
by  fifteenth  century  maps,  lay  across  an  actual  ocean 
and  can  obviously  be  traced  only  on  maps  that  repre- 
sent the  ocean  as  it  is.  The  sea  to  sea  boundaries  of 


256  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Virginia,  "west  and  northwest,"  however  influenced 
by  seventeenth  century  maps,  can,  as  actually  applied 
by  Virginians,  obviously  be  traced  only  on  maps  that 
represent  physical  North  America  as  it  really  is.  His- 
torical geography  in  school  is,  for  the  most  past,  con- 
cerned with  changes  in  actual  areas  of  political  or  other 
control  and  with  changes  in  nomenclature  relating  thereto. 
For  the  most  part,  therefore,  past  geographic  conditions 
are  represented  on  modern  maps.  The  outline  of  physi- 
cal Europe,  for  example,  wears  the  same  aspect  for  studies 
of  ancient  as  for  studies  of  modern  Europeans.  The 
differences  are  in  the  subdivisions  of  the  map  and  in  the 
names  associated  with  them.  The  pupil  is  made  aware 
that  Austria  and  France  were  not  always  on  the  map 
of  Europe  and  did  not  always  present  the  map  forms 
which  they  present  to-day.  The  actual  earth  forms 
thus  apportioned  and  reapportioned  remain  relatively 
constant  and  are  represented  as  constant  on  the  map. 
The  same  condition  applies  to  the  actual  spatial  relations 
of  any  other  historical  data  included  in  map  representa- 
tion. The  trade  routes  of  antiquity,  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  of  to-day  are  alike  represented  on  modern  maps. 
For  the  most  part,  therefore,  the  general  problems  of 
map  interpretation  are  the  same  for  past  as  for  present 
geographic  conditions. 
Thus  far  in  the  discussion  it  has  been  tactily  assumed 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  257 

that  the  maps  to  be  interpreted  are  ordinary  wall  maps 
and  maps  of  the  kind  found  in  textbooks  and  atlases. 
For  most  of  the  geographical  questions  that  arise  in 
the  history  lesson  reference  to  such  ready-made  maps, 
accompanied  by  proper  interpretation,  will  be  sufficient. 
But  there  should  also  be  some  map  construction  by  the 
pupil.  The  mere  copying  of  ready-made  maps,  accom- 
panied by  proper  interpretation,  deepens  impressions 
of  geographic  conditions.  The  reproduction  of  maps 
from  memory  adds  still  greater  definiteness  to  map  in- 
terpretation. In  either  case  the  pupil  may  sketch  the 
map  in  its  entirety  or  may  merely  fill  in  details  on 
printed  or  blackboard  outlines. 

Reproductions  of  maps  from  memory,  common  under 
an  older  regime  but  rather  uncommon  now,  are  not 
difficult  to  manage.  All  of  the  work  can  be  done  during 
the  class  period.  As  a  first  step  the  entire  class  may  be 
sent  to  the  blackboard  and  told  to  sketch  from  the  text- 
book the  outline,  let  us  say,  of  Greece.  After  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  of  this  kind  of  work  at  the  beginning 
of  each  of  two  or  three  recitations  a  time  limit  may  be 
set.  The  class  may  be  told  to  sketch  the  outline  hi  five 
minutes,  then  in  two  minutes,  then  in  one  minute.  As 
a  second  step  the  class  may  be  told  to  draw  as  much  of 
the  outline  as  possible  from  memory  and  to  refer  to  the 
textbook  only  so  far  as  may  be  necessary.  This  prac- 


258  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

tice  may  be  continued  until  every  member  of  the  class 
can  sketch  the  outline  entirely  from  memory  in  two 
minutes  or  less.  As  further  steps  the  various  details 
desired  may,  in  the  same  way,  be  progressively  intro- 
duced until  every  member  of  the  class  can  sketch  the 
outline  and  fill  in  quickly  and  almost  mechanically  any 
details  that  may  be  required.  Exercises  of  this  kind 
admit  of  extension  to  any  country  and  assure,  at  an 
average  cost  of  four  or  five  minutes  per  day,  the  kind  of 
knowledge  of  geographical  conditions  which  all  teachers 
of  history  believe  essential.  Incidentally  such  exercises 
at  the  beginning  of  the  recitation  prepare  for  other 
matters  by  fixing  attention  upon  the  lesson.  The 
monotony  which  they  may  at  first  suggest  is  relieved 
by  varying  from  day  to  day  the  details  to  be  represented 
and  by  the  pleasure  that  comes  from  a  sense  of  mastery. 
Similar  exercises  are  of  course  possible  with  prepared 
outline  maps. 

Some  constructive  work  beyond  mere  copying  or  mere 
reproduction  from  memory  is  also  desirable.  Historical 
maps  should  not  be  left  altogether  in  a  realm  of  mystery 
and  blind  faith.  Those  red  or  blue  or  black  lines  that 
show  so  clearly  and  definitely  the  wanderings  of  bar- 
barian tribes  in  the  fifth  century,  or  of  European  explorers 
in  America  in  the  sixteenth  century,  should  not  be  taken 
too  seriously.  The  pupil  should  have  some  conscious- 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  259 

ness  of  the  data  from  which  historical  maps  are  con- 
structed. 

A  class  in  the  high  school  may  be  asked  to  prepare 
a  map  not  found  in  textbooks  nor  in  the  ordinary  at- 
lases, a  map,  for  example,  of  the  territory  set  apart  for 
his  younger  sons  by  Louis  the  Pious,  hi  817.  The 
official  declaration  was  as  follows : 

"i.  We  will  that  Pippin  shall  have  Aquitania  and 
Gascony,  and  all  the  March  of  Toulouse,  and  moreover 
four  counties;  namely,  in  Septimania  Carcassone,  and 
in  Burgundy  Autun,  1'Avalonnais  and  Nevers. 

"2.  Likewise  we  will  that  Louis  shall  have  Bavaria 
and  Carinthia,  and  the  Bohemians,  Avars,  and  Slavs, 
who  are  on  the  eastern  side  of  Bavaria ;  and  further- 
more, two  demesne  towns  to  do  service  to  him,  in  the 
county  of  Nortgau,  Lauterburg  and  Ingolstadt."  l 

The  problem  here  is  merely  to  locate  the  areas  des- 
ignated by  the  names  and  mark  them  off  in  an  appro- 
priate manner  on  an  outline  map  or  on  a  sketch  made  by 
the  pupil.  The  larger  divisions  are  easily  found  in  an 
atlas  like  Shepherd's.  The  search  for  the  counties 
and  towns  will  raise  questions  that  illustrate  in  a 
simple  way  one  kind  of  difficulty  encountered  by  map 
makers. 

A  sixth  or  seventh  grade  working  with  the  teacher,  or  a 

1  Henderson,  Historical  Documents  of  the  Middle  Ages,  203. 


260  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

senior  class  in  the  high  school  working  independently, 
may  be  asked  to  trace  the  route  of  Columbus  across  the 
Atlantic  in  1492,  as  recorded  in  his  Journal.1  In  the 
following  summary  of  the  data  thus  supplied  the  numbers 
after  the  dates  indicate  the  distance  in  leagues  and  the 
letters  the  points  of  the  compass. 

August  3.  — 15.  S. ;  "afterwards  S.W.  and  W.S.W.,  which 
was  the  course  for  the  Canaries." 

4.—  "They  steered  S.W.JS."  (Distance  not 
recorded.) 

5. — 40.     (Direction  not  recorded.) 

6.  —  29.     (Direction  not  recorded.) 

7. —  25.  "On  a  course  for  the  island  of  Lanzarote, 
one  of  the  Canaries." 

8  to  September  2.  —  (Direction  and  distance  not 
recorded.  Pinta  repaired  at  Canaries.) 
"The  Admiral  reached  Gomera  on  Sun- 
day the  2nd  of  September,  with  the  Pinta 
repaired." 

September  6. — "He  departed  on  that  day  from  the  port  of 
Gomera  in  the  morning,  and  shaped  a 
course  to  go  on  his  voyage.  .  .  .  There 
was  a  calm  all  that  day  and  night,  and  in 
the  morning  he  found  himself  between 
Gomera  and  Tenerif0." 

7. —         "The  calm  continued.  .  .  ." 

8.  — 9.      W. 

>The  text  and  a  map  of  the  "four  voyages  of  Columbus"  may  be 
found  in  The  Northmen,  Columbus,  and  Cabot,  Original  Narratives  of 
Early  American  History,  Scribner's. 


THE   USE   OF   MAPS  261 

9.  —  49.    "The  sailors  steered  badly,  letting  the  ship 
fall  off  to  N.E." 

10.  —  60.    (Direction  not  recorded.) 

11.  —  40.    W. 

12.  —  33.    "Steering  their  course." 
13-  — 33-    W. 

14.  —  20.  W. 

15.  — 27.  W. 

16.  — 39.  W. 

17.  — 50.  W. 

18.  —  55.  (Direction  not  recorded.) 

19.  —  25.  "The  Admiral  continued  on  his  course.  .  .  ." 

20.  —  7  or  8.     "He  sailed  this  day  toward  the  West  a 

quarter   northwest  .  .  .  because   of   the 
veering  winds  and  calm  that  prevailed." 

21.  — 13.     (Direction  not  recorded.) 

22.  — 30.    W.N.W. 

23.  —  22.      N.W. 

24.  — 14.    W. 

25.—  4.    W.,  then  17.  S.W. 

26.— 31.  W.,  "until  afternoon";  then  S.W.,  "until 
he  made  out  that  what  had  been  said  to 
be  land  was  only  clouds." 

27.  —  24.    W. 

28.  — 14.    W. 

29.  —  24.    W. 
-  30.  — 14.    W. 

October    i.  — 25.  W. 

2.  —  39.  W. 

3.  — 47.  W. 
4. -63.  W. 

5.  —  57.    "The  Admiral  steered  his  course." 


262  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

6.  — 40.  W. 

7.  — 23.  W.,  then  5.  W.S.W. 

8.  — 12.  W.S.W. 

9.  —  5.  S.W.,  then  4.  W.  by  N.    "Altogether  in  day 

and  night,  they  made  1 1  leagues  by  day 
and  20$  leagues  by  night." 

10.  — 59.    W.S.W. 

11.  —  27.    W.S.W.,  then  22.    "  At  two  hours  after  mid- 

night the  land  was  sighted  at  a  distance 
of  two  leagues."  l 

The  problem  here  is  to  note  the  distance  and  direction 
of  each  day's  sailing  and  lay  off  to  scale  the  entire  course 
from  August  3  to  the  morning  of  October  12.  For 
effective  blackboard  work  there  should  be  about  8  feet  of 
space.  One  inch  may  then  be  taken  to  represent  12 
leagues.  The  pupils  should  have  their  textbook  maps 
of  the  voyage  before  them,  and  also  a  ready-made  wall 
map  or  chart  of  the  voyage.  Where  the  text  of  the 
Journal  is  accessible,  the  chief  incidents  of  the  voyage 
may  be  located  and  added  to  the  blackboard  sketch 
at  the  points  at  which  they  are  recorded. 

Such  an  exercise  will  illustrate  another  kind  of  diffi- 
culty in  the  making  of  historical  maps.  The  pupil 
will  see  that  the  usual  map  representation  of  the  route 
does  not  follow  exactly  the  record  in  the  Journal  and 
that  the  gaps  in  the  record  seem  to  have  been  bridged 

1  The  Northmen,  Columbus,  and  Cabot,  Original  Narratives,  91-110. 


THE   USE   OF  MAPS  263 

by  inference.  Both  conditions  will  suggest  questions 
and  comments,  and  the  result  of  the  exercise  should 
be  a  more  intelligent  view  of  the  map  of  the  great 
voyage. 

Again,  a  seventh  grade  working  with  the  teacher,  or  a 
senior  class  in  the  high  school  working  independently, 
may  be  asked  to  prepare  a  map  of  the  territory  granted 
to  the  London  and  Plymouth  Companies  by  the  charter 
of  1606.  For  a  seventh  grade  the  essential  portions  of 
the  charter  should  be  read  to  the  class  very  slowly  and 
discussed  step  by  step. 

JAMES,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  England,  Scotland, 
France  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc.  WHEREAS  our 
loving  and  well  disposed  Subjects  [eight  mentioned  by  name],  and 
divers  others  of  our  loving  Subjects,  have  been  humble  Suitors 
unto  us,  that  We  would  vouchsafe  unto  them  our  Licence,  to  make 
Habitation,  Plantation,  and  to  deduce  a  colony  of  sundry  of  our 
People  into  that  part  of  America  commonly  called  VIRGINIA,  and 
other  parts  and  Territories  in  America,  either  appertaining  unto 
us,  or  which  are  not  now  actually  possessed  by  any  Christian 
Prince  or  People,  situate,  lying,  and  being  all  along  the  Sea  Coasts, 
between  four  and  thirty  Degrees  of  Northerly  Latitude  from  the 
Equinoctial  Line,  and  five  and  forty  Degrees  of  the  same  Latitude, 
and  in  the  main  Land  between  the  same  four  and  thirty  and  five 
and  forty  Degrees,  and  the  Islands  thereunto  adjacent,  or  within 
one  hundred  Miles  of  the  Coast  thereof ; 

What  was  "that  part  of  America  commonly  called 
Virginia"?  Recall  the  origin  of  the  name.  What  was 


264  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

the  grant  to  Raleigh?  His  charter,  granted  by  Eliza- 
beth in  1584,  gave  him  "free  libertie  and  licence  from 
time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  forever  hereafter;  to  dis- 
cover, search,  finde  out,  and  view  such  remote,  heathen, 
and  barbarous  lands,  countries,  and  territories,  not 
actually  possessed  by  any  Christian  Prince,  nor  inhabited 
by  Christian  People,  as  to  him  .  .  .  shall  seem  good,  and 
the  same  to  have,  holde,  occupie  and  enjoy.  .  .  ."  How 
did  Raleigh  know  that  this  meant  America?  What 
lands  were  "viewed"  for  him  or  by  him?  What  lands 
were  occupied?  These  questions  will  bring  out  the 
vagueness  from  which  Virginia  is  now  about  to  emerge. 
Returning  to  the  extract  from  the  charter  of  1606, 
what  lands  were  at  that  time  possessed  by  Christian 
princes  or  peoples?  What  is  meant  by  "Equinoctial 
Line"?  Find  "four  and  thirty  Degrees  of  Northerly 
latitude"  on  the  sea  coast;  "five  and  forty  degrees." 
Draw  lines  on  the  blackboard  to  represent  the  parallels 
of  34°  and  45°.  Mark  the  points  where  the  sea  coast 
would  be.  Sketch  the  general  trend  of  the  coast  line 
between  these  parallels.  Draw  a  line  at  sea  one  hundred 
miles  from  the  coast.1  How  much  of  the  land  can  thus 
far  be  definitely  located  ?  The  preamble  continues  : 


is  saved  when  the  teacher  makes  the  blackboard  sketch. 
But  the  exercise  is  more  effective  when  the  drawing  is  done  by  the 
class. 


THE  USE   OF  MAPS  265 

And  to  that  End,  and  for  the  more  speedy  Accomplishment 
of  their  said  intended  Plantation  and  Habitation  there,  are  desir- 
ous to  divide  themselves  into  two  several  Colonies  and  Companies, 
the  one  consisting  of  certain  Knights,  Gentlemen,  Merchants,  and 
other  Adventurers,  of  our  City  of  London  and  elsewhere,  which 
are,  and  from  time  to  time  shall  be,  joined  unto  them.  .  .  .  And 
the  other  consisting  of  sundry  Knights,  Gentlemen,  Merchants, 
and  other  Adventurers,  of  our  Cities  of  Bristol  and  Exeter,  and 
of  our  town  of  Plimouth,  and  of  other  places,  which  do  join  them- 
selves unto  that  Colony.  .  .  . 

Ask  some  pupil  to  describe  in  his  own  words  the  ar- 
rangement here  proposed.  Why  were  two  "Colonies 
and  Companies"  desired?  The  word  "Adventurers" 
is  used  in  a  sense  unlikely  to  be  familiar  to  children. 
Have  a  member  of  the  class  find  it  in  the  dictionary 
and  explain  it.  A  few  other  words  may  need  similar 
treatment.  Before  passing  to  the  next  paragraph  go 
back  to  "James,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King,"  and  read 
the  entire  preamble  as  cited.  Ask  the  class  for  a  sum- 
mary. Then  read : 

"We  greatly  commending,  and  graciously  accepting  of,  their 
Desires  ...  do,  therefore.  .  .  .  GRANT  and  agree,  that  the  said 
.  .  .  Adventurers  of  and  for  our  City  of  London,  and  all  such 
others,  as  are,  or  shall  be,  joined  unto  them  of  that  Colony,  shall 
be  called  the  first  Colony;  And  they  shall  and  may  begin  their 
said  first  Plantation  and  Habitation,  at  any  Place  upon  the  said 
Coast  of  Virginia  or  America,  where  they  shall  think  fit  and  con- 
venient, between  the  said  four  and  thirty  and  one  and  forty 
Degrees  of  the  said  Latitude.  .  .  ." 


266  TEACHING  OF   HISTORY 

Has  any  land  thus  far  been  granted?  What  is 
granted  ?  Be  sure  that  this  is  clear.  Add  to  the  black- 
board sketch  a  line  to  represent  the  parallel  of  4-1°. 

And  we  do  likewise  .  .  .  GRANT  and  agree,  that  .  .  .  [the 
others}  of  the  town  of  Plimouth  ...  or  elsewhere  .  .  .  shall  be 
called  the  second  Colony;  And  that  they  shall,  and  may  begin 
their  said  Plantation  and  Habitation,  at  any  Place  upon  the  said 
coast  of  Virginia  and  America,  where  they  shall  think  fit  and  con- 
venient, between  eight  and  thirty  Degrees  of  the  said  Latitude, 
and  five  and  forty  Degrees  of  the  same  Latitude.  .  .  . 

Is  any  land  here  granted  to  the  "second  Coloay?" 
What  is  granted?  Be  sure  that  this  is  clear.  Add  to 
the  blackboard  sketch  a  line  to  represent  the  parallel 
of  38°.  The  class  will  now  be  prepared  to  understand 
the  further  specifications  of  the  charter.  The  provision 
for  each  of  the  two  colonies  was : 

.  .  .  They  shall  have  all  the  Lands,  Woods,  Soil,  Grounds, 
Havens,  Ports,  Rivers,  Mines,  Minerals,  Marshes,  Waters,  Fish- 
ings, Commodities,  and  Hereditaments,  whatsoever,  from  the  said 
first  Seat  of  their  Plantation  and  Habitation  by  the  Space  of  fifty 
Miles  of  English  Statute  Measure,  all  along  the  said  Coast  of  Vir- 
ginia and  America,  towards  the  West  and  Southwest,  as  the  Coast 
lyeth,  with  all  the  Islands  within  one  hundred  Miles  directly  over 
against  the  same  Sea  Coast ;  And  also  all  the  Lands,  Soil,  [etc.]  .  .  . 
from  the  said  Place  of  their  first  Plantation  and  Habitation  for 
the  space  of  fifty  like  English  Miles,  all  alongst  the  said  Coasts  of 
Virginia  and  America,  towards  the  East  and  Northeast,  or  towards 
the  North,  as  the  Coast  lyeth,'  together  with  all  the  Islands  within 


THE  USE   OF  MAPS  267 

one  hundred  Miles,  directly  over  against  the  said  Sea  Coast; 
And  also  all  the  Lands,  Woods,  [etc.]  .  .  .  from  the  same  fifty  Miles 
every  way  on  the  Sea  Coast,  directly  into  the  main  Land  by  the 
Space  of  one  hundred  like  English  Miles.1 

Provided  always,  and  our  Will  and  Pleasure  herein  is,  that 
the  Plantation  and  Habitation  of  such  of  the  said  Colonies,  as 
shall  last  plant  themselves,  as  aforesaid,  shall  not  be  made  within 
one  hundred  like  English  Miles  of  the  other  of  them,  that  first 
began  to  make  their  Plantation,  as  aforesaid.* 

Where  was  the  first  "Plantation"  of  the  first  colony? 
Block  out  on  the  blackboard  its  land  grant.  Where  was 
the  first  "Plantation"  of  the  second  colony?  Block 
out  its  land  grant.  Suppose  the  first  colony  had  first 
settled  in  latitude  39°,  could  the  second  colony  have  settled 
in  latitude  40°?  in  latitude  38°?  Why?  What  does 
the  textbook  mean  by  the  London  and  Plymouth  Com- 
panies? The  study  may  conclude  with  a  comparison 
between  the  blackboard  sketch  and  the  map  in  the  text- 
book or  with  the  wall  map.  In  either  case  glaring  dis- 
crepancies are  likely  to  appear,  for  there  are  few  topics 
in  colonial  history  that  have  been  treated  more  care- 
lessly than  the  boundary  provisions  of  the  charter  of 
1606. 

With  a  senior  class  in  the  high  school  the  material 

1  This  is  the  description  of  the  grant  to  the  first  colony.     It  is  repeated 
with  slight  changes  in  phraseology  for  the  second  colony. 
*  Poore,  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Part  II,  1888-1890. 


268  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

may  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  pupils  to  be  worked 
out  without  the  guiding  questions  of  the  teacher.1 

1The  materials  for  studies  of  this  type  in  American  history  are 
abundant  and  easily  secured.  See  American  History  Leaflets,  Nos.  6, 
16,  22,  and  32.  See  also  Gannett,  Boundaries  of  the  United  States,  Bulle- 
tin No.  226,  United  States  Geological  Survey.  Gannett  supplies  ma- 
terials for  studies  relating  to  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  as  a 
whole  and  also  to  the  boundaries  of  each  of  the  states.  The  bulletin 
can  be  purchased  for  thirty  cents  from  the  Superintendent  of  Documents, 
Washington,  B.C. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY 

FROM  the  point  of  view  of  American  conditions  title 
most  important  aid  in  the  teaching  of  history  is  the  text- 
book. It  is,  indeed,  more  than  an  aid.  In  the  majority 
of  American  schools  it  determines  the  facts  to  be  taught 
and  the  manner  of  teaching  them.  A  teacher  called 
upon  to  instruct  any  grade  above  the  third  is  almost 
certain  to  demand  a  textbook  for  use  by  the  children. 
From  this  point  on  to  the  end  of  the  high  school  course 
the  study  of  history,  in  most  of  our  schools,  means  at 
bottom  the  preparation  of  textbook  lessons,  and  the 
teaching  of  history  means  at  bottom  the  discussion  of 
textbook  lessons.  In  Europe  the  textbook  is  less  im- 
portant. Historical  instruction  in  the  elementary  school 
is  almost  entirely  oral,  and  even  in  the  secondary  school 
formal  textbook  lessons  are  comparatively  rare. 

Textbooks  have  sometimes  shaped  and  sometimes 
followed  the  ideas  of  makers  of  history  programs.  In 
either  aspect  their  history  is  so  closely  related  to  pro- 
grams in  history  that  the  general  character  of  the  facts 
provided  by  textbooks  can  be  read  in  the  general  char- 

269 


270  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

acter  of  the  programs.  All  of  the  theories  of  history 
examined  in  earlier  chapters  of  the  present  work  have 
produced  their  crops  of  textbooks.  Facts  and  arrange- 
ments of  facts  have,  therefore,  varied  widely.  The 
teacher  in  search  of  a  textbook  will  naturally  be  guided, 
in  the  first  instance,  by  the  theory  that  seems  to  him 
most  conclusive.  Beyond  this  there  is,  however,  a  use- 
ful classification  based  upon  the  degree  of  fulness  with 
which  facts  are  treated.  Three  general  types  are  dis- 
tinguishable : 

1.  Books  that  aim  to  present  a  bare  skeleton  or  framework  of 
facts,  sometimes  littla  more  than  aiKj>utIine  or  syllabus.    They 
are  called  in  Germany  [Leitfaden  and  in  France  precis. 

2.  Books  that  develop  the  outline  into  a  fuller  reading  story, 
and  yet  frankly  leave  room  for  further  development.    They  may 
conveniently  be  designated  by  the  French  term  manuels. 

3.  Books  that  aim  to  be  self -sufficient,  to  treat  each  topic  so 
fully  as  to  make  it  intelligible  without  further  development. 
They  may  conveniently  be  designated  by  the  French  term  cours.1 

Each  type  of  textbook  is  to  be  judged  by  the  purpose 
for  which  it  is  intended.  It  is  scarcely  fair  to  complain 
of  a  book  frankly  designed  to  be  a  manuel,  that  it  is  too 
condensed  and  too  dry  and  that  teachers  who  use  it 
must  supplement  the  material  either  by  oral  instruction 
or  by  collateral  reading.  Nor  is  it  fair  to  complain  of  a 

1  For  the  use  of  these  terms  in  France,  see  L'Enseignement  Secondaire, 
February  15,  1009,  p.  63. 


TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY  271 

book  frankly  designed  to  be  a  cours,  that  it  is  too  full  of 
details,  that  it  leaves  little  for  the  teacher  to  do  except 
to  hear  lessons,  and  that  it  weakens  the  incentive  to 
collateral  reading.  These  are  considerations  to  be  de- 
cided before  the  textbook  is  selected.  In  the  United 
States,  however,  relatively  few  writers  appear  to  have 
been  definitely  conscious  of  such  differences  in  treatment. 
Most  of  our  books  are  of  the  manuel  type.  Writers  of 
some  of  them  have  consciously  aimed  to  leave  some- 
thing for  the  teacher  to  do  in  the  way  of  exppunding  the 
book  and  of  adding  outside  readings.  But  so  many  have- 
been  guided  by  the  belief  that  brevity  is  synonymous 
with  simplicity,  and  so  many  teachers  share  this  belief, 
that  our  textbooks  must  in  general  be  viewed  primarily 
as  instruments  for  lesson-getting  and  lesson-reciting. 

Textbooks  for  the  intermediate  grades  often  do 
achieve  both  brevity  and  simplicity.  But  in  such  cases 
the  writer  usually  feels  relieved  of  any  responsibility 
for  a  complete  story,  or  even  for  a  continuous  story. 
Simplicity  is  secured  by  the  elimination  of  topics  that 
cannot  in  brief  space  be  treated  concretely.  The  stories 
actually  included  are,  for  the  most  part,  stories  that 
cannot  be  told  at  all  without  being  told  concretely. 
Such  classics  as  the  story  of  Captain  John  Smith  and 
Pocahontas  and  the  story  of  George  Washington  and 
his  hatchet  are  reasonably  safe  uf  the  hands  of  any 


272  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

writer  likely  to  obtain  a  hearing  from  publishers  of 
books  for  children  or  in  the  hands  of  any  teacher  likely 
to  be  tolerated  in  the  schoolroom. 

The  teaching  of  history  in  the  upper  grades  presents 
conditions  much  more  difficult  to  meet.  Here  the 
subject  is  usually  American  history,  and  tradition 
demands  of  the  textbook  writer  the  whole  story. 
Furthermore,  tradition  limits  the  size  of  the  textbook. 
Not  only  must  the  whole  story  be  told ;  it  must  be  told 
in  some  four  hundred  odd  pages.  The  usual  mode  of 
meeting  the  condition  is  to  enlarge  on  topics  that  are 
inherently  simple  and  interesting,  and  to  simplify  others 
by  not  saying  much  about  them.  A  story  like  that  of 
the  Pilgrims  and  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  may  thus 
occupy  three  or  four  pages,  and  may  even  descend  to 
details.  A  story  like  that  of  the  founding  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  Colony  may  be  reduced  to  a  short  par- 
agraph of  generalities.  The  net  result  for  the  average 
book  is  that  it  is  only  in  part  intelligible. 

In  a  grammar  school  book  by  a  competent  and  dis- 
tinguished historian  New  England  is  introduced  as 
follows : 

The  Puritans.  —  The  New  England  colonies  were  founded  by 
English  Puritans  who  left  England  because  they  could  not  do  as 
they  wished  in  the  home  land.  All  Puritans  were  agreed  in  wish- 
ing for  a  freer  government  than  they  had  in  England  under  the 
Stuart  kings  and  inlstate  matters  were  really  the  Liberals  of-their 


TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY  273 

time.  In  religious  matters,  however,  they  were  not  all  of  one 
mind.  Some  of  them  wished  to  make  only  a  few  changes  in  the 
Church.  These  were  called  Non-Conformists.  Others  wished  to 
make  so  many  changes  in  religion  that  they  could  not  stay  in 
the  English  State  Church.  These  were  called  Separatists.  The 
settlers  of  Plymouth  were  Separatists ;  the  settlers  of  Boston  and 
neighboring  towns  were  Non-Conformists. 

The  pupils  are  thus  prepared  for  the  story  of  the 
Pilgrims  to  which  the  author  devotes  about  three  and 
one-half  pages.  His  next  topic  is  "The  Founding  of 
Massachusetts,  1629-1630."  Of  this  he  writes: 

Unlike  the  poor  and  humble  Pilgrims  were  the  founders  of 
Massachusetts.  They  were  men  of  wealth  and  social  position,  as, 
for  instance,  John  Winthrop  and  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall.  They 
left  comfortable  homes  in  England  to  found  a  Puritan  state  in 
America.  They  got  a  great  tract  of  land  extending  from  the 
Merrimac  to  the  Charles,  and  westward  across  the  continent. 
Hundreds  of  colonists  came  over  in  the  years  1629-1630.  They 
settled  Boston,  Salem,  and  neighboring  towns.  In  the  next  ten 
years  thousands  more  joined  them.  From  the  beginning  Massa- 
chusetts was  strong  and  prosperous.  Among  so  many  people 
there  were  some  who  did  not  get  on  happily  with  the  rulers  of  the 
colony. 

The  words  are  simple.  Children  even  in  a  sixth 
grade  can  read  them  and  give  them  back  in  the  class 
recitation.  The  routine  teacher,  content  to  rest  the 
matter  there,  will  get  the  impression  that  the  book  is 
admirable,  and  perhaps  write  a  testimonial  for  the  pub- 
lishers. The  teacher  accustomed  "thoroughly  to  ex- 


274  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

pound  the  text"  may  find  it  a  convenient  summary. 
Teachers  of  the  latter  type  are,  however,  in  the  minority. 
Routine  results  will  be  those  most  in  evidence.  Thought- 
ful observers,  perceiving  these,  will  ask  if  the  children 
see  or  feel  anything  except  words.  Do  they  see  any 
Puritans?  Do  they  see  anything  that  the  Puritans 
might  change  or  any  reason  for  changing  it?  Do  they 
see  anything  that  happened  in  America?  What  are 
Stuart  kings  and  liberals  in  state  matters  to  those  who 
never  heard  of  either  before?  What  are  comfortable 
homes,  wealth,  and  social  position?  One  thing  to 
children  in  the  crowded  tenements  of  lower  New  York, 
another  thing  to  children  in  the  mansions  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  and  still  another  to  children  at  the  cross-roads 
where  "comfortable  board  and  lodging"  may  be  had 
for  eight  dollars  per  month.  But  what  do  the  words 
actually  tell  about  the  circumstances  of  the  Puritans? 
What  is  gained  in  the  narrative  by  naming  John  Win- 
throp  and  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  when  nothing  further 
is  said  about  either  of  them?  Is  it  a  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  Puritans  that  they  "  left  England  because 
they  could  not  do  as  they  wished  in  the  home  land  ?"  or 
that  "in  religious  matters  they  were  not  all  of  one 
mind?"  or  that  "among  so  many  people  there  were 
some  who  did  not  get  on  happily  with  the  rulers  of  the 
colony?"  Do  these  statements,  individually  or  collec- 


TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY  275 

tively,  differentiate  the  Puritans  from  people  who  are 
leaving  even  the  United  States  to-day  because  they  can- 
not do  as  they  wish,  who  in  religious  matters  are  not 
all  of  the  same  mind,  and  who  do  not  get  on  with  the 
rulers,  here  or  elsewhere  ? 

In  a  grammar  school  book  by  a  well-known  "popu- 
larizer"  of  American  history  we  read: 

The  Puritans.  —  Bitter  religious  persecution  prevailed  in 
England  at  that  time.  Many  thought  the  Church  of  England  so 
corrupt  that  they  withdrew  from  it.  They  were  called  Separatists 
or  Independents,  while  those  who  aimed  at  reform  within  the 
church  were  called  Puritans. 

The  story  of  the  Pilgrims  is  then  told  in  about  four 
pages.  This  brings  the  author  to  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony. 

The  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was  formed  of  Puritans,  some 
of  them  wealthy,  and  all  of  high  character.  They  made  a  settle- 
ment in  1628  near  Salem.  Boston  was  founded  two  years  later  by 
Governor  Winthrop,  and  between  the  years  1630  and  1640  twenty 
thousand  people  settled  in  Massachusetts.  The  various  colonies 
scattered  throughout  the  province  all  seemed  to  be  on  the  road  to 
prosperity. 

Even  professional  educators  have  been  known  to 
attack  the  situation  without  improving  it.  A  super- 
intendent of  city  schools,  who  evidently  felt  the  need  of 
a  little  more  background  in  the  treatment  of  Puritans 
and  Separatists,  has  inserted  between  a  six-line  para- 


276  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

graph,  headed,  "The  Plymouth  Company,"  and  a 
fifteen-line  paragraph,  headed,  "What  is  a  Puritan? 
a  Separatist?  a  Pilgrim?"  —  the  following:  . 

Religious  Awakening  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  —  If  the  times 
are  propitious,  any  reform,  as  it  proceeds,  gathers  strength  from 
causes  without,  as  well  as  within,  itself.  Luther's  protest  in  1517 
became  a  great  religious  awakening,  and  in  time  changed  the 
established  lines  of  religious  thought.  Its  success  was  enhanced 
by  the  fact  that  an  awakening  was  also  in  progress  in  educational, 
scientific,  and  all  other  lines  of  thought.  In  England  the  move- 
ment resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England, 
whose  ritual  retained  much  of  the  formal  method  of  worship  used 
by  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  old-fashioned  general  history  for  the  high  school 
was  constructed  under  similar  limitations.  An  author 
was  allowed  one  hundred  fifty  or  two  hundred  more 
pages,  but  this  expansion  was  scarcely  proportionate 
to  the  expansion  of  the  subject.  With  the  same  dread 
of  leaving  something  out,  there  would  of  necessity  be 
less  chance  in  a  general  history  than  in  a  history  of  the 
United  States  of  finding  space  for  something  to  be  put  in. 
The  introduction  of  the  "block"  system  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Seven  relieved  the  condition  in  part  and  made 
a  fuller  treatment  possible.  Paragraphs  were  extended 
to  pages,  pages  were  extended  to  chapters.  There  are 
now  in  each  of  the  four  fields  marked  out  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Seven  books  that  approach  the  cours  type. 


TEXTBOOKS   IN  HISTORY  277 

feeling  of  responsibility  for  all  the  facts  consecrated  by 
school  tradition  is,  however,  still  in  evidence.  Much 
has  been  added,  but  comparatively  little  has  been  elim- 
inated. Some  books  on  ancient  history  and  some  on 
mediaeval  and  modern  history  are  almost  as  summary  in 
treatment  as  the  older  books  on  general  history.  There 
are  still  both  writers  and  teachers  who  seem  to  estimate 
the  difficulty  of  a  topic  by  the  amount  of  reading  matter 
apportioned  to  it,  and  who  would,  therefore,  favor  a 
summary  treatment  even  if  other  conditions  did  not 
make  it  appear  inevitable. 

A  textbook,  whatever  its  scope  and  whatever  the 
stage  of  instruction  for  which  it  is  intended,  should  at 
least  aim  at  definiteness  and  some  degree  of  concrete- 
ness.  Because  a  book  is  brief  it  does  not  follow  that 
it  must  be  vague.  Definiteness  and  concreteness  are 
attainable  without  adding  greatly  to  the  number  of 
words.  It  is  possible  in  any  case  to  mix  a  few  partic- 
ulars with  the  necessary  generalities,  to  seek  specific 
rather  than  resounding  adjectives,  to  add  to  superla- 
tives and  figures  of  speech  some  measurable  data  for 
comparison. 

Under  the  topic,  "Periods  of  Egyptian  History," 
in  a  book  intended  for  the  first  year  of  the  high  school, 
and  highly  commended  for  the  purpose  by  many  teachers, 
we  read : 


278  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

During  the  time  of  the  old  empire  the  most  important  dynasty 
was  the  fourth,  when  the  great  pyramids  and  the  sphinx  were 
built  at  Gizeh,  and  the  vast  necropolis,  or  rock  cemetery,  was  laid 
out  at  Sakkarah,  near  Memphis. 

Five  pages  farther  on  we  meet  the  topic,  "Egyptian 
Architecture  and  Monuments." 

The  religious  spirit  of  the  Egyptians  was  strongly  impressed 
upon  their  architecture,  which  consisted  mainly  of  tombs  and 
temples.  The  buildings  for  the  dead  are  seen  in  the  rock-sepul- 
chers  cut  in  the  sides  of  the  hills  which  flanked  the  Nile  —  for 
example,  the  extensive  necropolis  at  Sakkarah  (near  Memphis). 
Separate  monumental  tombs  took  the  form  of  pyramids,  and 
reached  the  most  gigantic  proportions  at  Gizeh.  In  these  artificial 
mountains  of  stone  rested  the  remains  of  kings. 

"Vast  necropolis,"  "gigantic  proportions,"  and  "  arti- 
ficial mountains  of  stone"  -  these  are  good  phrases,  but 
do  they  achieve  definiteness  ?  For  answer  let  us  turn  to  a 
treatment  of  the  same  subject  in  a  book  for  beginners 
in  the  study  of  ancient  history  in  the  French  lycee. 

The  Egyptian  kings  took  pride  in  building  enormous  monu- 
ments, especially  temples  for  the  gods  and  tombs  for  themselves. 
For  three  thousand  years  men  went  on  building  in  Egypt  tombs 
and  temples.  Many  are  still  standing  and  excite  the  wonder  of 
travelers. 

The  oldest  and  most  celebrated  of  these  monuments  are  three 
famous  pyramids  which  are  the  tombs  of  three  kings. 

They  stand  in  lower  Egypt  (some  leagues  from  Cairo),  upon  a 
plateau  which  served  as  a  cemetery,  for  it  is  everywhere  strewn 
with  monuments  and  little  pyramids,  each  of  which  is  a  tomb. 


TEXTBOOKS   IN  HISTORY  279 

These  pyramids  seem  at  first  to  be  only  enormous  masses  of 
stone,  no  opening  is  visible.  They  were  once  encased  in  blocks 
of  polished  stone,  so  smooth  that  they  could  not  be  scaled,  and  so 
well  fitted  together  that  a  hair  could  not  have  been  inserted 
between  any  two  blocks.  But  when  this  covering  was  pierced  a 
series  of  small  chambers,  united  by  narrow  galleries,  was  disclosed. 
It  was  in  one  of  these  chambers  that  the  king  was  buried.  The 
coffin  of  one  of  the  kings  was  found ;  the  coffins  of  two  other  kings 
had  disappeared,  —  the  tombs  had  been  violated.  It  was  to  avoid 
profanations  of  this  kind  that  the  builders  had  so  carefully  con- 
cealed the  entrance  to  the  vaults. 

The  fine  polished  stones  which  formed  the  covering  of 
the  pyramids  have  been  torn  away  and  the  masonry  has  been 
exposed  to  view.  The  great  pyramid  has  thus  been  reduced  in 
height  more  than  seven  meters.  It  now  measures  not  more  than 
137  meters  instead  of  its  former  144;  it  is  still  one  of  the  highest 
monuments  in  the  world. 

Not  far  from  the  pyramids,  an  enormous  head  of  stone  lifts 
its  form  from  the  sand.  It  is  the  Sphinx,  image  of  the  god  Har- 
Y  makhis,  who  represented  the  rising  sun.  The  rest  of  the  body  is 
to-day  buried  in  the  sand,  but  excavation  has  revealed  its  form. 
It  is  the  body  of  a  crouching  lion  cut  in  the  rock.  The  monument 
is  19  meters  high,  that  is,  the  height  of  a  five-story  building;  the 
ear  measures  a  meter. 1 

The  test  of  definiteness'  and  concreteness  is,  under 
American  conditions,  the  first  step  to  be  taken  in  the 
examination  of  a  textbook,  and  the  most  important, 
for  it  determines  in  general  the  answer  to  the  ever 
present  question,  "Does  the  book  lend  itself  to  lesson- 

1  Seignobos,  L'AntiquiU,  16-17. 


280  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

getting?"  There  are,  however,  other  important  ques- 
tions to  be  asked.  Is  the  book  accurate?  What  is  its 
special  point  of  view?  What  is  the  character  -of  the 
pictures,  maps,  and  other  aids  to  visualization  ?  Are 
the  references  for  collateral  reading  suitable?  Are  the 
questions,  outlines,  digests,  and  other  pedagogical  aids, 
if  it  contains  any,  helpful?  Is  there  a  good  table  of 
contents?  Is  there  a  full  index?  Does  it  offer  a  good 
model  of  English?  Is  it  interesting? 

The  initial  test  of  accuracy  is  the  author.  Who  is  he 
and  what  has  he  done  ?  Under  an  earlier  regime  almost 
anybody  who  could  write  at  all  could  write  a  text- 
book on  almost  any  subject.  A  single  author  might, 
without  apology  to  the  proprieties,  place  to  his  credit 
textbooks  in  half  a  dozen  different  fields  and  then, 
perhaps,  round  out  his  career  by  compiling  a  dictionary. 
So  far  as  history  is  concerned,  authors  without  histor- 
ical training  may  still  venture  to  make  contributions, 
but  among  their  competitors  are  now  to  be  found  pro- 
fessional students  of  history,  and  amateur  effort  is  now 
largely  confined  to  the  elementary  field.  Most  of  the 
recent  high  school  books  in  history  have  come  from  the 
hands  of  experts.  This  raises  a  presumption  of  accuracy. 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  profes- 
sional student  is  usually  a  specialist.  He  has  his  period 
or  his  subject.  When  he  assumes  responsibility  for  the 


TEXTBOOKS   IN  HISTORY  281 

larger  field  of  a  textbook,  he  is  forced  to  become,  in 
part,  a  compiler  and  must  be  judged,  to  some  extent,  as 
V  a  compiler.  It  was  a  distinguished  historian  out  of  his 
field  who,  in  the  first  edition  of  a  well-known  textbook 
in  American  history,  transposed  the  political  platforms 
of  the  Davis  and  Douglas  democrats  of  1860.  It  was 
another  distinguished  historian  out  of  his  field  who,  in 
another  well-known  textbook  in  American  history, 
confused  the  Reconstruction  Act  of  1867  with  quite  a 
different  measure.  Fortunately  for  the  teacher,  text- 
books by  experts  are  usually  reviewed  by  experts,  and 
palpable  errors  are  likely  to  be  pointed  out.  But  there 
should  be  some  independent  tests  by  the  teacher. 

An  author's  point  of  view  is  sometimes  set  forth  clearly 
in  his  preface  or  introduction  and  sometimes  left  to  be 
inferred  from  the  kinds  of  facts  selected,  from  the 
manner  in  which  they  are  interpreted,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  emphasis.  Books  produced  in  different  coun- 
tries differ  widely  in  point  of  view.  A  national  bias 
is  often  boldly  proclaimed.  Indeed,  comparisons  be- 
tween textbooks  of  different  countries  yield  at  times 
&"  almost  startling  illustrations  of  the  subjectivity  of 
history.  There  is  apparently  one  Europe  for  the  Aus- 
trian textbook,  one  for  the  Prussian,  one  for  the  French, 
and  one  for  the  American,  each  with  its  own  peculiar 
-  hues.  Taking  the  United  States  alone,  we  get  per- 


282  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

ceptibly  different  pictures  of  certain  conditions  and 
events  in  passing  from  a  book  by  a  New  Englander  to 
a  book  by  a  Pennsylvanian  and  then  on  to  a  book  by  a 
Virginian.  A  teacher  should  at  least  notice  differences 
in  point  of  view  as  expressed  in  the  general  proportions 
of  a  book.  Is  it  an  ancient  history?  How  much 
space  is  devoted  to  the  Peloponnesian  War  ?  to  the  post- 
Alexandrian  period?  to  social  conditions?  to  art  ques- 
tions? Does  the  author  enlarge  on  the  period  of  the 
Roman  Republic  or  on  the  period  of  the  Empire  ?  Pages 
alone,  of  course,  do  not  necessarily  indicate  the  relative 
importance  attached  to  topics.  From  a  recent  study  of 
the  fame  of  Euripides  as  compared  with  the  fame  of 
Sophocles,  it  appears  that  Euripides  gets  the  greater 
space  in  the  histories,  but  Sophocles  gets  the  adjectives 
and  is  therefore  judged  the  more  famous.  A  textbook 
writer  may  show  his  emphasis  by  his  adjectives.  Pages 
are  none  the  less  a  rough  test.  A  teacher  desiring 
to  enlarge  on  the  nineteenth  century  will  scarcely 
select  a  textbook  on  mediaeval  and  modern  European 
history  which  devotes  five-sixths  of  its  space  to  the 
period  before  the  French  Revolution.  A  teacher  who 
thinks  the  thousand  years  before  the  nineteenth  century 
important  will  scarcely  select  a  textbook  half  of  which 
is  devoted  to  the  nineteenth  century.  Of  two  books 
equal  in  other  respects  teachers  will,  in  view  of  present 


TEXTBOOKS   IN  HISTORY  283 

emphasis,  naturally  give  preference  to  the  book  which 
offers  the  more  adequate  treatment  of  industrial  and 
social  conditions. 

Pictures,  maps,  and  other  visual  aids  suggest  their 
own  special  questions.  What  is  the  principle  of  selec- 
tion? Is  there  a  definite  relation  between  the  text  and 
the  illustrations  ?  Are  the  latter  clear  and  well  printed  ? 
Does  the  author  indicate  the  sources  of  his  maps  and 
pictures?  Are  the  maps  accurate?  Do  the  pictures 
represent  realities,  or  fanciful  conceptions  of  reality? 
Purely  imaginative  illustration  is  still  common  in  ele- 
mentary books  and  is  not  wholly  absent  from  high  school 
books.  Maps  are  still  often  bad.  Some  of  them  con- 
tain too  much  detail,  some  of  them  are  not  clear,  some 
of  them  are  quite  inaccurate.  It  would  be  a  decided 
gain  if  all  authors  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  indicate 
the  sources  of  their  pictures  and  maps.  This  would 
in  itself  be  likely  to  invite  more  careful  selection  and 
greater  attention  to  details.  In  the  absence  of  such 
information  it  is  often  difficult  for  a  teacher  to  estimate 
the  historical  value  of  the  illustrative  materials  in  a  book. 

American  textbooks,  almost  without  exception,  now 
contain  references  for  collateral  reading.  The  teacher 
will  naturally  examine  their  general  character  and  ar- 
rangement. Are  the  references  general  or  specific? 
Do  they  indicate  titles  only  or  chapters  and  pages? 


284  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Are  they  classified?  Is  the  pupil  made  conscious  of  the 
kind  of  material  to  which  he  is  referred?  Are  there 
references  to  other  textbooks?  to  historical  novels  and 
poems?  Are  the  works  mentioned  likely  to  be  in  an 
average  library?  A  textbook  is  not  always  the  safe 
guide  to  collateral  reading  that  it  ought  to  be.  Often 
the  only  test  applied  seems  to  be  that  of  relevance  to  the 
subject  under  discussion. 

The  average  table  of  contents  contains  merely  titles 
of  chapters.  Some  authors,  however,  include  a  complete 
analysis  of  the  book.  Some  indexes  are  perfunctory, 
indefinite,  and  incomplete.  Others  are  full  and  specific. 
To  teachers  who  make  no  use  of  either  tables  of  contents 
or  indexes,  these  are  considerations  of  no  special  signifi- 
cance. To  others  they  suggest  pertinent  tests. 

The  pedagogical  aids,  when  present,  are  sometimes  * 
helpful  and  sometimes  a  sheer  waste  of  space.  They 
are  sometimes  so  bad  that  pupils  must  be  warned  not  to 
use  them.  The  tests  to  be  applied  will  depend  upon  the 
type  of  lesson  which  the  teacher  proposes  to  assign  and 
the  type  of  recitation  to  be  followed. 

Textbooks,  as  a  rule,  lack  literary  distinction.  They 
cannot  seriously  claim  to  be  works  of  literature.  We 
have  a  right  to  demand  grammatical  English,  clearness 
and  definiteness  of  statement,  and  a  connected  story. 
We  have  also  a  right  to  demand  that  a  book  shall  be 


TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY  285 

interesting.  It  is  well,  however,  to  analyze  the  nature 
of  the  interest.  One  way  to  make  a  book  interesting 
is  to  parade  the  personal  opinions  of  the  author.  If 
he  praises  and  blames  somewhat  extravagantly,  if  he 
speculates  somewhat  daringly  on  what  might  have 
happened  if  something  else  had  not  happened,  if  he 
adopts  now  and  then  a  flippant  tone,  if  he  makes  of 
historical  characters  his  personal  friends  and  enemies, 
he  is  almost  certain  to  be  entertaining  to  young  readers. 
Another  way  to  make  a  book  interesting  is  to  enlarge 
on  sensational  episodes,  to  introduce  backstairs  gossip, 
to  quote  from  speeches  and  state  papers  what  is  spicy 
rather  than  what  is  important.  Interest  may  be  at- 
tained at  too  great  a  cost.  A  book  to  be  eminently 
respectable  need  not  be  eminently  dull,  but  no  eminently 
respectable  work  of  textbook  scope  can  at  all  points  be 
interesting  to  all  readers. 


CHAPTER  XH 

THE  USE  OF  TEXTBOOKS 

HISTORICAL  instruction  in  the  lowest  grades  of  the 
elementary  school  is  necessarily  oral.  The  teacher  either 
reads  or  tells  the  story  or  develops  it  by  a  combination 
of  reading  or  telling  and  questioning.  As  soon,  however, 
as  children  are  themselves  able  to  read,  the  tendency  in 
the  United  States  is  to  pass  from  oral  to  book  instruction. 
In  schools  that  have  history  throughout  the  eight  years 
of  the  elementary  course  there  is  usually  a  transition 
period  during  which  history  stories  are  treated  simply  as 
reading  material.  This  period  varies  in  length.  The  as- 
signment of  lessons  for  formal  study  and  recitation  may 
begin  as  early  as  the  fourth  grade.  It  may  be  deferred 
until  the  sixth  or  seventh  grade.  In  schools  that  defer  his- 
torical instruction  of  any  kind  until  the  sixth  or  seventh 
grade  the  instruction  is  commonly  from  the  very  begin- 
ning textbook  instruction.  Throughout  the  high  school, 
textbook  lessons  are  almost  everywhere  the  rule.  How  to 
use  a  textbook  is,  therefore,  to  most  teachers,  the  fun- 
damental problem  of  historical  instruction,  and,  to  many 
of  them,  there  is  reason  to  fear,  the  whole  problem. 

286 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  287 

The  learning  and  reciting  of  textbook  lessons  is  often 
called  in  Europe  the  American  method  of  teaching  his- 
tory. Textbooks  are  as  common  and  of  as  many  varie- 
ties in  Europe  as  in  the  United  States,  and  have  from 
the  beginning  had  a  place  in  school  instruction  in  his- 
tory. The  facts  which  they  contain  are  more  thoroughly 
learned  in  Europe  than  in  the  United  States.  But 
formal  textbook  lessons  are  usually  neither  assigned  nor 
recited.  The  instruction,  regardless  of  the  nature  of  the 
textbook,  is  in  general  oral.  In  the  lower  classes  the 
teacher  talks  and  questions.  The  pupils,  as  soon  as 
they  are  able,  take  notes.  The  general  method  em- 
ployed is  sometimes  the  developmental  and  sometimes 
the  purely  informatory.  In  the  first  case  the  teacher 
supplies  fundamental  data  and  then,  by  a  course  of 
questioning,  leads  the  pupils  to  make  comparisons  with 
other  known  data,  to  draw  inferences,  and  to  build 
up  such  new  facts  as  the  data  may  warrant.  The  lesson 
is  cooperative.  This  method  has  been  applied  most 
conspicuously  in  Germany.  In  the  second  case  the 
teacher  does  practically  all  of  the  building  and  the  aim 
of  the  questioning  is,  in  the  main,  to  make  sure  that 
the  pupils  are  following  and  understanding  the  facts. 
This  method  has  been  applied  most  conspicuously  in 
France.  In  either  case  pupils  understand  in  a  general 
way  that  the  textbook  is  useful  as  an  aid  hi  keeping 


288  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

their  bearings,  and  that  their  textbook  readings  are 
to  follow  class  discussions.  Here  and  there  the  text- 
book plays  a  more  prominent  part.  Here  and  there 
lessons  are  definitely  assigned  and  recited.  But  the 
practice  is  viewed  with  disfavor  by  the  majority  of 
European  teachers.  In  Belgium  it  has  been  pro- 
nounced the  worst  of  pedagogical  heresies.1  Even  the 
French,  who  have  carried  the  principle  of  making  the 
textbook  self-explanatory  farther  than  any  other  people, 
maintain  in  general  the  tradition  of  oral  instruction. 

In  the  upper  classes  the  teacher  talks  more  and  ques- 
tions less.  Sometimes  he  talks  and  does  not  question 
at  all.  This  is  true  at  times  even  in  the  lower  classes. 
Oral  instruction  thus  reverts  to  its  ancestral  type,  the 
lecture  system,  at  one  time  widely  prevalent  in  all 
grades  of  historical  instruction.  In  France,  for  example, 
before  the  adoption  of  the  program  of  1902,  it  was  rare, 
above  the  lowest  lycee  classes,  to  hear  a  pupil's  voice  in 
the  classroom.  The  teacher  talked  during  the  entire 
class  period;  the  pupils  took  notes  and  afterward  read 
the  textbook.  While  the  present  regulations  forbid 
formal  lecturing  and  direct  the  teacher  to  question 
his  classes,  there  are  still  those  long  in  the  service  who 
find  it  difficult  to  change  established  habits,  and  who 
go  on  lecturing  in  the  old  way.  The  younger  teachers 

1  Ministire  de  Vlntericur  el  de  ^Instruction  publique,  1905,  p.  16. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  289 

are,  however,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  new  spirit 
and  yield  to  the  lecture  temptation  no  oftener  than 
teachers  in  other  countries. 

The  European  method  of  oral  instruction,  with  what-  ^ 
ever  may  be  left  of  the  lecture  system,  makes  the  place 
of  the  textbook  entirely  clear.  The  textbook  is  not 
the  starting  point.  If  of  the  precis  type,  it  is  merely  a 
summary  of  facts  after  they  have  been  more  fully  pre- 
sented or  developed  by  the  teacher.  If  of  the  cours 
type,  it  may  be  an  elaboration  of  facts  already  presented 
or  developed  by  the  teacher.  When  later  the  pupil  is 
questioned  in  class,  he  is  questioned,  as  a  rule,  on  the 
facts  and  not  on  the  textbook.  The  teacher  teaches; 
the  textbook  summarizes  or  elaborates,  refreshes  the 
memory,  fixes  names  and  dates,  and  in  general  helps 
the  pupil  to  keep  his  bearings. 

To  the  old-fashioned  teacher  of  American  tradition 
the  place  of  the  textbook  was  equally  clear.  His  duty 
as  a  teacher  began  with  the  assignment  of  a  certain 
number  of  paragraphs  or  pages  and  ended  with  the  "hear- 
ing" of  the  lesson.  "After  the  battle  the  king  went 
-John,  you  may  go  on."  After  John  had  gone  on  for 
some  minutes  he  was  relieved  by  "next,"  who  in  his 
turn  was  relieved  by  "next,"  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the 
lesson.  The  ideal  was  to  reproduce  the  exact  words 
of  the  textbook,  and  it  was  at  first  mainly  as  a  concession 
u 


2QO  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

to  weaklings  that  the  pupil  was  allowed  to  sum  up  in  his 
own  words  the  substance.  The  concession  was,  however, 
made  and  in  time  proved  fatal  to  the  system.  First 
came  the  discovery  that  the  pupil  who  could  gather 
up  the  facts  of  the  textbook  and  set  them  forth  in  his 
own  words  deserved  more  credit  than  his  competitor 
of  facile  verbal  memory,  and  then  the  discovery  that 
questions,  at  first  also  regarded  in  part  as  a  concession 
to  weaklings,  might  stimulate  useful  comparisons  and 
inferences.  The  memoriter  system  did  not  entirely  pass 
away.  It  is  even  yet  neither  wholly  extinct  nor  wholly 
without  respectable  defenders.  Among  its  beneficiaries 
are  some  now  in  the  evening  of  life  and  some  just  out  of 
college  who  are  ready  to  testify  that  the  history  which 
has  remained  with  them,  the  history  which  they  have 
drawn  upon  when  they  have  thought  of  history  at  all, 
has  been  the  history  in  the  textbook  committed  to 
memory  in  some  fitting  school  and  not  the  history  which 
they  afterward  studied  in  college.  Such  results  are 
not  altogether  bad  and,  to  the  extent  that  they  have 
ceased  to  be  attained  under  other  systems,  one  can 
sympathize  with  those  sturdy  opponents  of  change  who 
saw  in  each  new  step  a  lowering  of  the  standards  of 
instruction.  The  worst  that  can  be  said  of  the  memori- 
ter system  is  in  some  respects  not  worse  than  the  worst 
that  can  be  said  of  some  other  systems.  If  in  the  one 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  291 

case  the  pupil  learns  "nothing  but  facts,"  except  that 
incidentally  he  learns  also  very  often  to  hate  history, 
in  other  cases  he  may  learn  not  even  "  facts"  and  still 
learn  incidentally  to  hate  history.  But  changes  were 
inevitable,  partly  because  with  the  spread  of  historical 
instruction  the  number  of  weaklings  unable  to  memorize 
increased  alarmingly,  and  partly  because  the  judicious, 
as  soon  as  they  began  to  ask  the  meaning  of  study,  saw 
in  the  operation  of  the  old  system  no  necessary  analysis 
of  the  textbook,  no  opportunity  for  exercises  in  the 
selection  and  organization  of  material,  and,  often,  no 
need  of  even  understanding  the  book. 

The  textbook  viewed  as  material  for  something  more 
than  memorizing  presents  a  more  complicated  problem. 
The  use  to  be  made  of  it  depends  first  of  all  upon  the 
kind  of  textbook.  Is  it  of  the  precis  type?  Then 
surely  no  teacher  ought  to  think  of  assigning  lessons 
in  advance  and  of  spending  the  time  in  class  having 
the  lesson  recited.  If  such  a  book  is  to  be  studied  at  all, 
each  new  lesson  should  either  be  worked  over  by  the 
teacher  at  the  time  of  making  the  assignment  or  be 
filled  out  by  required  readings  in  other  books.  Below 
the  seventh  grade  the  ability  of  the  average  pupil  to 
comprehend  is  so  far  in  advance  of  his  ability  to  read 
that  the  necessary  details  are  most  economically  and 
most  effectively  supplied  by  the  teacher.  The  text 


TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

book  may  be  read  with  the  class  and  treated  as  a  guiding 
thread  in  the  unfolding  of  a  fuller  story,  or  it  may  be 
brought  in  only  at  the  close  of  the  story,  and  treated  as  a 
summary.  In  either  case  the  pupil's  own  study  of  the 
textbook  should  follow,  and  not  precede,  the  fuller 
story.  After  the  story  has  been  developed,  after  the 
children  have  repeated  it,  after  they  know  what  it  is  all 
about,  they  may  be  sent  to  the  textbook,  as  in  Europe, 
to  find  out  where  they  are  in  the  general  scheme  of  things, 
to  fix  names  and  dates,  to  see  how  one  topic  is  related  to 
another,  and  to  obtain  further  hints  of  what  they  ought 
to  remember.  Beginning  with  the  seventh  grade 
required  readings  outside  of  the  text  may  to  an  ever 
increasing  extent  be  substituted  for  contributions  by 
the  teacher,  and  the  pupil  may  be  left,  more  and  more,  to 
his  own  devices  in  passing  from  the  textbook  outline 
to  the  fuller  account  and  back  again  to  the  textbook. 
"The  Puritans  left  England  because  they  could  not  do 
as  they  wished  in  the  home  land."  This  tells  the  pupil 
practically  nothing.  It  does  perhaps  suggest  that  he 
ought  to,  know  what  it  was  the  Puritans  wished  to  do  in 
the  home  land  and  could  not  do.  In  any  event,  after  he 
has  found  out  what  they  wished  to  do,  the  statement 
tells  him  so  much  that  it  may  be  worth  remembering. 
The  textbook  as  a  whole  may  on  this  principle  be 
worth  remembering.  But  the  textbook  is  not  the  lesson. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  293 

It  is  only  a  guide  to  a  larger  fund  of  knowledge  and  a 
summary  of  such  knowledge  after  it  has  been  acquired. 
The  bare  summary  type  of  textbook,  taken  for  what 
it  is,  has  certain  advantages.  In  the  lower  grades  the 
supplementary  oral  instruction  needed  to  make  the  book 
intelligible  may  raise  the  level  of  the  history  course. 
One  reason  why  American  estimates  of  the  ability  of 
children  to  cope  with  history  are  lower  than  similar 
European  estimates  is  the  American  habit  of  translating 
history  so  largely  into  the  reading  vocabulary  of  children. 
In  the  upper  grades,  and  in  the  high  school,  the  summary 
leaves  more  time  for  collateral  reading  than  a  fuller  text- 
book. There  are  teachers  who  turn  these  advantages  to 
excellent  account  and  who  would  feel  themselves  ham- 
pered by  a  fuller  textbook  treatment.  But  there  are 
others  to  whom  a  textbook  is  a  textbook  and  a  class 
recitation  a  recitation  of  the  textbook.  The  pupil  who 
remembers  that  "the  Puritans  left  England  because 
they  could  not  do  as  they  wished  in  the  home  land,"  is, 
in  many  a  schoolroom,  commended  and  pressed  no 
further.  The  history  lesson  thus  degenerates  into  an 
exercise  in  mere  words.  Teachers  in  the  lower  grades 
of  the  elementary  school,  without  training  in  the  art 
of  oral  instruction  and  without  some  special  knowledge 
of  history,  and  teachers  in  the  upper  grades  or  in  the 
high  school,  without  a  good  school  library,  will  be  on 


2Q4  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

safer  ground  if  they  avoid  the  bare  summary  type  and 
seek  on  principle  a  fuller  treatment. 

With  a  book  of  the  cours  type,  a  book,  that  is,  which  is 
definite  in  statement  and  reasonably  complete  in  neces- 
sary details,  a  book  which  pupils  can  really  understand, 
there  is  at  least  a  partial  justification  for  assigning  mere 
textbook  lessons  and  for  spending  the  time  in  class  hav- 
ing them  recited  and  applied.  Much  depends  upon  the 
manner  of  learning  the  lessons  and  the  manner  of  reciting 
them.  In  some  schools  lessons  in  history  are  taken  as 
seriously  and  studied  as  intelligently  before  coming  to 
class  as  lessons  in  Latin  or  in  mathematics.  In  other 
schools  the  assignment  is  little  more  than  a  fiction. 
The  pupils  have  trained  the  teacher  to  do  most  of  the 
reciting.  In  still  other  schools  the  schedule  allows  little 
or  no  time  for  outside  preparation.  The  teacher  has  the 
class  for  the  class  period  to  do  what  can  be  done.  Some 
teachers  approve  of  this  plan,  either  because  their 
experience  in  trying  to  persuade  pupils  to  study  a  history 
lesson  has  been  unhappy,  or  because  they  believe  that 
better  results  can  be  secured  under  the  teacher's  im- 
mediate direction  than  through  independent  study. 
The  character  of  the  class  recitation  must,  it  is  clear, 
vary  with  the  character  of  the  preparation. 

The  chief  difficulty  with  mere  textbook  lessons  of  the 
modern  type  is  that  the  pupils,  very  often,  have  not  been 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  2Q5 

taught  how  to  study.  The  teacher  assigns  as  of  old 
pages  88-95  or  paragraphs  65-74.  The  pupils  read  the 
lesson  five  or  six  times,  ten  times,  even  twenty  times,  if 
their  own  reports  are  to  be  credited,,  without  learning 
what  the  lesson  is  really  about.  This  condition,  where  it 
exists,  is  so  sadly  apparent  that  any  teacher  might  be 
expected  to  discover  it  and  to  realize  the  plain  duty 
which  it  suggests.  The  fact  remains  that  many  teachers 
do  not  discover  it.  It  is  a  good  rule,  therefore,  for  all 
teachers  to  begin  the  year's  work  or  the  term's  work  with 
jjome  preliminary^_tests  of^  the  ability _of  pupils  _  to  find 
their  way  in  the  textbook.  Let  one  pupil  read  aloud  a 
paragraph  from  the  textbook,  the  others  following  with 
books  open.  Ask  the  reader  to  tell  in  his  own  words 
what  he  has  read.  Ask  others  to  criticise  and  to  fill 
out.  Have  the  paragraph  read  a  second  time  and  ask 
again  to  have  its  substance  reproduced.  Continue_the 
process  until  some  definite  results  are  secured  and  note 
carefully  the  changing  character  of  the  summaries  made 
by  the  pupils.  A  single  class  period  spent  in  this  way 
may  revolutionize  a  teacher's  ideas  of  lesson-getting. 
One  senior  class  in  a  high  school  after  three  readings, 
with  books  open,  found  some  difficulty  in  reproducing 
the  substance  of  the  following  paragraph : 

Early   Geographical   Ideas.  —  The  idea  that   the  earth  was 
spherical  in  shape,  and  not  flat,  as  had  been  taught  in  the  Homeric 


2p6  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

poems,  was  held  by  many  learned  men  among  the  ancients.  For 
instance,  Aristotle,  a  Greek  philosopher  who  lived  in  the  fourth 
century  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  had  proved  to  his  own  satis- 
faction, by  observations  made  during  eclipses  and  in  other  ways, 
that  the  earth  was  round.  This  theory  had  been  held-  by  men 
who  lived  before  Aristotle;  but  the  idea  seems  to  have  been  re- 
garded as  novel  when  he  wrote.  A  most  remarkable  statement 
was  made  on  the  subject  by  another  Greek  writer,  Eratosthenes, 
who  lived  in  the  third  century  before  Christ.  His  works  are  lost, 
but  according  to  Strabo,  a  Roman  geographer  (B.C.  40-A.D.  60), 
he  wrote:  "If  the  extent  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  were  not  an 
obstacle,  we  might  easily  pass  by  sea  from  Iberia  to  India,  kill 
keeping  the  same  parallel,  the  remaining  portion  of  which  occupies 
more  than  a  third  of  the  whole  circle.  But  it  is  quite  possible 
that  in  the  temperate  zone  there  may  be  two  or  even  more  habit- 
able earths." 

When,  after  the  first  reading,  the  teacher  asked  for  a 
summary  the  class  did  not  understand  what  was  re- 
quired. "We  don't  do  our  history  that  way,"  com- 
plained one.  "Ask  us  some  question,"  demanded 
another.  In  the  end  the  teacher  had  to  ask  questions, 
had,  that  is,  to  assist  the  class  in  analyzing  the  para- 
graph. Would  any  teacher,  after  such  an  experience, 
be  likely  to  go  on  with  page  assignments  in  the  text- 
book, or  in  other  books,  and  leave  the  pupils,  without 
further  instruction,  to  do  the  rest  ? 

The  condition  may  be  met  in  one  of  two  ways :  (i)  by 
indicating  definitely  what  the  pupil  is  to  look  for,  or 
(2)  by  teaching  him  to  read  the  textbook  so  intelli- 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  2Q7 

gently  that  he  may  himself  find  what  he  ought  to  look 
for.  The  former  is  by  far  the  simpler  procedure  and  is 
the  one  commonly  followed  by  teachers  alive  to  the  needs 
of  pupils. 

Textbooks  themselves  often  provide  guidance  ques- 
tions. A  book  for  the  elementary  school,  for  example, 
introduces  a  chapter  on  "French  Pioneers"  as  follows: 


The  Fisheries  and  the  French.  The  first  sailors  to  come 
from  France  to  the  New  World  were  Breton  and  Norman  fisher- 
men. The  abundance  of  codfish  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland 
had  been  noticed  and  reported  by  John  Cabot  in  1497,  and  fishing 
vessels  from  various  countries  soon  found  their  way  thither. 
The  oldest  French  name  in  America,  that  of  Cape  Breton,  is 
probably  as  old  as  1504;  and  ships  from  Normandy  and  Brittany 
have  kept  up  their  fishing  in  those  waters  from  that  day  to  this. 
Ships  from  Portugal  and  Biscay  came  also,  but  at  first  not  many 
from  England,  for  the  English  were  used  to  catching  their  cod- 
fish in  the  waters  about  Iceland.  Gradually,  however,  the  Eng- 
lish came  more  and  more  to  Newfoundland,  and  by  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  fisheries  were  practically  monopolized 
by  French  and  English. 

During  that  century  the  fisheries  were  almost  the  only  link 
between  France  and  the  coast  of  North  America.  In  1518,  Baron 
de  Lery  tried  to  found  a  colony  on  Sable  Island,  but  was  glad  to 
get  away  before  starving  to  death.  Francis  I.,  who  became  king 
of  France  in  1515,  laughed  at  the  kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal  for 
presuming  to  monopolize  between  themselves  all  new  discoveries 
east  and  west.  Had  Father  Adam  made  them  his  sole  heirs? 
If  so,  they  had  better  publish  the  will !  .  .  . 


298  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

At  the  end  of  the  chapter  are  "topics  and  questions." 
Those  relating  to  the  matter  just  quoted  are : 

The  Fisheries  and  the  French. 

1.  What  brought  French  sailors  to  the  New  World?    - 

2.  Why  were  there  so  few  Englishmen  at  first  on  the  Newfound- 
land banks? 

3.  What  did  the  king  of  France  think  of  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese claims  to  all  new  lands? 

In  addition  to  such  questions,  textbooks  often  con- 
tain "suggestive  questions  and  directions."  The  book 
quoted  above  has  the  following  on  the  Newfoundland 
fisheries : 

Where  are  the  banks  of  Newfoundland?  What  fish  are 
caught  there?  Why  should  fish  be  so  abundant  there?  How 
extensive  are  the  banks  ?  From  what  countries  do  fishermen  go 
there?  Who  own  these  banks?  Do  fish  in  the  ocean  belong  to 
any  person  or  country  in  particular?  Do  fish  in  harbors,  rivers, 
brooks,  and  inland  waters  belong  to  people  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  it  wrong  for  other  people  to  catch  them  ?  Have  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland  had  anything  to  do  with  history  ?  If  so,  tell  in 
what  way.  Find  on  some  map  the  places  from  which  the  fisher- 
men mentioned  in  the  text  used  to  come  to  the  banks. 

With  aids  of  this  character  and  the  further  aids 
supplied  by  paragraph  headings  and  marginal  topics  a 
pupil  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  make  some  prog- 
ress, if  his  attention  is  called  to  such  aids  and  if  he  is 
definitely  instructed  to  use  them  in  preparing  his  lesson. 
If  the  questions  are  not  considered  suitable,  others  may 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  2QQ 

be  substituted  by  the  teacher.  In  either  case  the  ques- 
tions may  constitute  the  substance  of  the  lesson  assign- 
ment. 

An  aid  of  a  somewhat  different  character  is  supplied 
by  the  ready-made  outline,  which,  like  questions,  may  be 
provided  either  by  the  textbook  or  by  the  teacher. 
Outlines  are  of  two  general  kinds :  (i)  those  that  convey 
information,  and  (2)  those  that  merely  suggest  what  the 
pupil  is  to  look  for.  Both  are  analytical,  both  are  de- 
signed to  show  what  is  most  significant  and  to  furnish  a 
convenient  exhibit  of  relations.  An  information  outline 
may  introduce  the  American  Revolution  as  follows : 

I.  Conflicting  views  of  the  British  Constitution. 

A.  The  colonial  view. 

1.  Union  through  the  crown. 

2.  Representation  in  colonial  legislatures. 

B.  The  British  view. 

1.  Union  through  parliament. 

2.  Parliament  supreme  throughout  the  British  Empire. 

A  guidance  outline  may  introduce  the  same  subject  as 
follows : 

I.  Nature  of  the  British  Constitution. 

1.  The  colonial  view. 

2.  The  British  view. 
II.   Changes  in  British  policy. 

i.  The  British  debt, 
a.   The  trade  acts. 

3.  The  army. 


300  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

A  ready-made  outline  of  the  information  type  that 
sums  up  clearly  the  essentials  of  a  history  course  may 
with  profit  be  thoroughly  memorized.  According  to  a 
committee  of  the  New  England  History  Teachers' 
Association  such  an  outline  not  only  may  but  must  be 
memorized.  It  "must  be  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  every 
new  topic ;  it  must  be  indelibly  engraved  upon  the  mind 
of  the  student,  must  be  written  and  rewritten,  said  back- 
wards and  forwards.  .  .  .  Around  this  core  is  built  up 
the  student's  knowledge.  About  it  he  groups  what  he 
remembers  of  books,  sources,  and  classroom  talk."  *  A 
guidance  outline  scarcely  invites  this  kind  of  memorizing. 

Lessons  based  upon  a  ready-made  outline  are  naturally 
assigned  in  terms  of  the  outline.  The  topics  are  named, 
or  their  numbers,  and  the  pupils  understand  that  they 
are  to  fill  in  from  their  textbook.  In  this  way  provision 
is  easily  made  for  the  omission  of  any  topics  in  the  text- 
book not  considered  essential,  and  for  collateral  reading. 
The  pupil  knows  what  to  look  for,  knows  where  he  is 
while  he  is  looking  for  it,  and  knows  its  relation  to  the 
general  scheme.  The  class  recitation  is  also  in  terms  of 
the  outline.  It  can  be  carried  on  either  by  announcing 
topics  from  the  outline  or  by  asking  questions  based 
upon  the  outline. 

Some  critics  of  textbook  lessons  seem   inclined    to 

1  Publication  No.  i,  New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  14. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  301 

exclude  any  formal  analysis  and  recitation  of  the  text, 
or  even  of  collateral  reading,  and  to  confine  attention  to 
the  solution  of  problems.  "Read  the  next  ten  pages  in 
the  text;  also  one  of  the  following  references.  .  .  . 
Bring  in  a  map,  drawn  by  yourself,  showing  the  loca- 
tion of  the  two  armies  at  this  time."  To  this  form  of 
lesson  assignment  there  are,  it  has  been  urged,  three  very 
serious  objections.  In  the  first  place,  the  textbook  is 
not  "suitable  to  all  without  an  analysis  of  individual 
cases.  It  has  been  used  to  a  very  large  extent  just  in 
this  way.  But  it  consists  of  a  logical  arrangement 
of  subject  matter,  excellent  for  reading  reference,  but 
not  necessarily  suited  either  to  individual  students  or 
to  individual  lesson  units."  In  the  second  place,  the 
effect  upon  the  teacher  is  demoralizing.  "Real  teach- 
ing rapidly  deteriorates  under  such  conditions.  If  there 
is  one  influence  tending  to  make  teaching  mechanical 
and  empty,  it  is  found  in  the  assignment  given  as  a  mere 
task  rather  than  for  the  purpose  of  working  out  an 
important  problem."  In  the  third  place,  the  influence 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  pupil  is  unwholesome.  The 
pupil  "too  frequently  feels  that  such  as  assignment  is 
only  an  arbitrary  task  in  the  daily  grind  of  school  work. 
Why  should  the  facts  related  in  these  ten  pages  be 
learned  ?  .  .  .  With  -such  questions  in  mind,  how  small 
the  inspiration  to  study  vigorously !" 


3O2  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

How,  then,  should  a  lesson  be  assigned?  According 
to  the  critic  who  has  just  been  quoted,  the  ground  should 
first  be  broken  by  "real  class  study."  This  accom- 
plished, the  pupil  should  be  sent  away  to  solve  some 
definite  problem  and  not  to  cover  a  certain  number  of 
pages.  Taking  the  Albany  Congress  as  an  example, 
the  following  is,  after  preliminary  class  study  of  the 
topic,  suggested  as  a  proper  assignment: 

1.  Find  further  evidence  that  the  colonists  were  in  need  of 
a  closer  union. 

2.  Arrange  this  evidence  in  the  form  of  a  convincing  argument. 

3.  Support  the  text  by  at  least  one  good  illustration  of  efforts 
to  secure  a  closer  union  in  some  phase  of  present  life. 

4.  Read  pages  112-116  and  120-126  in  the  text  for  informa- 
tion as  to  the  attitude  of  the  colonists  immediately  following  the 
Albany  Congress.     (This  is  in  anticipation  of  "class  study"  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  class.) l 

What  is  here  proposed  is  still  at  bottom  to  assist  the 
pupil  in  finding  his  way  through  the  textbook.  The 
"logical  arrangement  of  subject  matter"  found  in  the 
textbook  is  "not  necessarily  suited  either  to  individual 
students  or  to  individual  lesson  units."  This  is  the 
underlying  assumption.  The  position  taken  is,  however, 
supported  by  two  other  assumptions:  (i)  that  "a  mere 
task"  in  school  is  reprehensible,  and  (2)  that  "an 
arbitrary  task  in  the  daily  grind"  is  converted  into 
1  School  Review,  Vol.  18,  pp.  627-633. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS 

something  to  which  that  stigma  does  not  attach  by  the 
simple  expedient  of  telling  the  pupil  somewhat  defi- 
nitely what  he  is  to  look  for  and  to  think  about. 

Whether  a  textbook  is  "excellent  for  reference  read- 
ing," or  for  anything  else,  depends,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  upon  the  kind  of  textbook.  Textbooks 
themselves  cannot  be  put  into  one  generic  class  and 
judged  "without  an  analysis  of  individual  cases."  It 
is  at  best  somewhat  hazardous  to  place  a  form  of  assign- 
ment under  the  ban  because  it  seems  to  impose  a  task. 
Even  granting,  .for  the  moment,  that  a  "mere  task" 
is  indefensible,  has  the  task  idea  been  altogether  elimi- 
nated by  the  problems  suggested?  May  not  the  pupil, 
with  reason,  still  ask  to  have  the  ways  of  the  teacher  justi- 
fied? Why  should  further  evidence  be  found  that  "the 
colonists  were  in  need  of  a  closer  union  ?  "  Of  what  con- 
sequence to  the  pupil  is  it  to  "  arrange  this  evidence  in  the 
form  of  a  convincing  argument  ?  "  Why  should  he  "  read 
pages  112-116  and  120-126  in  the  text  for  information 
as  to  the  attitude  of  the  colonists  immediately  follow- 
ing the  Albany  Congress?"  Are  not  pupils  sensitive 
to  "  tasks  "  likely  to  detect  them  even  in  such  problems  ? 

Questions,  outlines,  and  problems  have  in  common 
the  merit  of  giving  the  pupil  something  definite  to  look 
for  and  to  think  about  in  the  preparation  of  the  history 
lesson.  They  do  beyond  doubt  simplify  the  learning 


304  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

of  lessons.  But  if  this  is  an  end  necessary  and  desirable 
in  itself,  there  is  perhaps  justification  for  thinking  that 
more  can  be  accomplished  by  giving  still  more  assistance. 
For  those  who  entertain  such  an  opinion  there  is  -a  plan 
widely  followed  in  the  French  lycees  that  is  worthy  of 
attention. 

The  professor  introduces  a  new  topic  by  dictating  a  f 
brief  summary  which  the  pupils  enter  verbatim  in  their 
notebooks.  The  summary  indicates  clearly  and  defi- 
nitely the  high  points  of  the  topic.  As  soon  as  it  has  been 
copied  the  notebooks  are  laid  aside  and  the  professor, 
rising  from  his  chair,  proceeds  to  expliquer  the  summary. 
He  puts  in  the  details,  he  elaborates  the  ideas,  he  il- 
lustrates, he  explains,  he  makes  the  whole  situation  real. 
He  is  always  clear,  often  entertaining,  and  sometimes ' 
eloquent.  Having  completed  his  explication,  he  sits 
down  again.  The  pupils  return  to  their  notebooks  and 
take  another  summary,  which  is  followed  by  another 
explication.  Two  or  three  summaries  and  two  or  three 
explications  are  ordinarily  given  during  an  average  class 
period.  The  first  part  of  the  next  period  is  taken 
up  with  questioning.  Each  pupil  as  he  is  called  upon 
steps  up  to  the  side  of  the  professor's  desk,  hands  in  his 
notebook,  and  then  faces  the  class.  The  professor  asks 
questions,  and,  while  the  pupil  is  answering,  examines  the 
notebook.  The  design  is  to  test  first  the  memory  and 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  305 

then  the  understanding.  The  latter  receives  special 
emphasis.  The  professor  spends  most  of  the  time  trying 
to  find  out  if  the  pupil  really  knows  what  he  is  talking 
about.  The  pupil  is  not  allowed  to  escape  with  vague 
statements.  He  too  must  be  clear  and  definite,  he  too 
must  expliquer.  A  French  professor  is  constantly  say- 
ing to  his  class  by  his  manner,  by  his  questions,  and 
by  his  criticism  :  "Messieurs,  il  faut  preciser  vos  idees." 
Not  more  than  two  or  three  pupils  are  likely  to  be  called 
forward  during  a  class  period,  but  the  recitation  at  its 
best  keeps  the  whole  class  alert  and  often  calls  forth 
brief  discussion  from  the  floor. 

Whatever  the  plan  evolved  for  assisting  the  pupil, 
the  general  American  theory  of  personal  initiative  and 
personal  independence  would  seem  to  suggest  as  one  test 
of  effectiveness  the  ability  of  the  pupil  eventually  to 
find  his  way  alone.  The  textbook  is,  after  all,  a  book, 
and  the  ability  to  read  a  book  is  of  greater  importance 
than  a  predigested  knowledge  of  its  contents  or  the 
solution  of  predetermined  problems.  Whether  any  one 
of  the  plans  thus  far  examined  for  piloting  the  pupil 
through  his  textbook  trains  him  to  be  his  own  pilot 
later  may  well  be  doubted.  The  tendency,  once  the 
habit  is  established  of  assisting  the  pupil  step  by  step 
to  analyze,  to  select,  and  to  organize  the  material  in  a 
textbook,  is  to  go  on  giving  the  same  kind  of  assistance 
x 


306  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

to  the  end  of  the  school  course.  What  may  then  be 
expected  is  illustrated  by  the  experience  of  the  senior 
class  mentioned  above.  This  class  may  have  been  ex- 
ceptionally stupid,  but  behind  the  apparent  inefficiency 
lay  six  or  seven  years  of  successful  historical  study  based 
upon  ready-made  outlines  and  guiding  questions.  More- 
over, experiments  with  other  classes  accustomed  to  such 
outlines  and  questions  have,  at  stages  ranging  from  the 
sixth  grade  up  through  the  high  school,  revealed  a 
similar  state  of  inefficiency.  Nor  is  it  wholly  without 
significance  that  even  in  college  the  all-directing  outline 
is  rather  generally  regarded  by  students  as  an  inalien- 
able right  and  by  instructors  as  an  indispensable  condi- 
tion of  making  a  course  intelligible. 

In  any  event  training  for  independent  study  through 
practice  in  studying  independently  may,  with  textbooks 
in  themselves  intelligible,  begin  when  the  use  of  a  text- 
book begins  and  continue  throughout  the  course.  There 
are  in  general  three  modes  of  procedure. 

i.  The  pupil  is  sent  to  the  textbook  without  pre- 
liminary directions  or  suggestions.  He  reads  the  lesson. 
On  coming  to  class  he  is  questioned  on  his  reading. 
"What  brought  French  sailors  to  the  New  World? 
Why  were  there  so  few  Englishmen  at  first  on  the 
Newfoundland  banks?  What  did  the  king  of  France 
think  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  claims  to  all  new 


THE   USE   OF   TEXTBOOKS  307 

lands?"  The  question-and-answer  method,  that  is, 
does  for  the  pupil,  after  he  has  read  the  lesson,  what 
guiding  questions,  ready-made  outlines,  or  problems 
do  for  him  while  he  is  reading  the  lesson.  The  results 
are  in  appearance  often  good.  The  pupil  is  able  to 
answer  the  questions.  The  plan  does  afford  opportunity 
for  independent  study.  It  can,  however,  scarcely  be 
said  to  encourage  independent  study.  With  guiding 
questions  to  lean  upon  in  class,  few  pupils  are  likely  to 
be  stimulated  to  do  more  than  to  read  the  lesson,  and 
often  the  first  lesson  is  read  as  intelligently  as  the  hun- 
dredth lesson. 

2.  The  pupil  is  required  to  analyze  the  lesson  and  to 
bring  to  class  a  written  outline.  In  the  recitation  one 
pupil  is  asked  to  copy  his  outline  on  the  board.  Other 
pupils  criticise  step  by  step,  ask  questions,  and  make 
suggestions.  The  teacher  asks  other  questions  and  adds 
criticism  and  suggestions.  The  aim  is  to  discover  the 
best  selection  of  particulars,  the  best  words  or  phrases 
for  indicating  then*  nature,  the  best  grouping  of  partic- 
ulars, the  best  names  for  the  groups,  the  best  combina- 
tions of  smaller  into  larger  groups,  the  best  names  for 
the  larger  groups,  and  so  on  to  a  complete  exhibit  in 
outline  of  the  lesson.  The  outline  built  up  on  this 
cooperative  plan  and  agreed  upon  as  best  is  entered  by 
all  pupils  in  their  notebooks  and  made  the  basis  of  later 


308  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

consideration  of  the  lesson.  The  results  are  often  ad- 
mirable so  far  as  the  analysis  of  the  lesson  is  concerned. 
The  pupil  learns  how  to  discover  on  his  own  initiative 
what  is  really  significant  and  why.  The  difficulty  is  to 
find  time  in  class  for  discussions  of  anything  except 
outlines.  Some  teachers  meet  the  difficulty  by  omitting 
discussions  of  outlines  as  outlines  and  by  requiring 
pupils  to  make  them  merely  for  their  own  guidance  in 
reciting. 

3.  The  pupil  is  taught  in  preliminary  practice  lessons, 
worked  out  in  class  under  the  immediate  guidance  of 
the  teacher,  how  to  study  and  how  to  learn  a  lesson. 
With  books  open  at  a  passage  like  that  on  the  fisheries 
and  the  French,  quoted  above,  a  practice  exercise  for  a 
seventh  grade  may  assume  the  form  indicated  by  such 
directions  and  questions  as  the  following : 

Notice  the  heading  of  the  paragraph.  Read  to  your- 
selves the  paragraph.  Does  the  heading  really  tell 
you  what  the  paragraph  is  about  ?  Read  the  paragraph 
again  and  find  all  the  different  things  that  are  men- 
tioned. Name  in  three  or  four  words  each  of  these 
things  and  enter  in  your  notebooks.  How  many  of  them 
would  you  expect  to  find  mentioned  under  the  heading, 
"  The  Fisheries  and  the  French  ?  "  Pick  out  all  the  things 
that  you  would  not  expect  to  find  mentioned  under  this 
heading.  Put  them  together  and  think  of  the  kind  of 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  309 

heading  under  which  you  would  expect  to  find  them 
mentioned.  What  is  the  subject  of  the  chapter?  What 
things  in  the  paragraph  are  directly  connected  with 
this  subject?  What  have  the  other  things  to  do  with 
this  subject  ?  Are  they  necessary  to  give  an  idea  of  this 
subject?  What  things  are  necessary?  What  things, 
then,  are  most  important  for  this  subject?  least  im- 
portant? The  pupil,  that  is,  analyzes  the  paragraph, 
names  its  separate  parts,  looks  for  relations,  considers 
what  is  important  from  the  point  of  view  of  these  re- 
lations, selects  and  classifies  the  material.  When  his 
work  is  complete,  he  has  before  him  an  outline  of  the 
paragraph.  From  this  outline  he  sums  up  in  his  own 
words  the  paragraph,  and  then,  laying  aside  the  outline, 
sums  up  again  the  paragraph.  Analyzing  in  the  same 
way  the  next  paragraph,  he  relates  the  material  to  what 
has  gone  before  and  again  summarizes,  first  with  the 
outline  before  him,  and  then  with  the  outline  laid  aside, 
and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  lesson.  With  the  outline 
of  the  lesson  as  a  whole  before  him  he  sums  up  in  his 
own  words  the  whole  lesson  and  then,  laying  aside  the 
outline,  sums  up  again  the  whole  lesson.  In  this  way 
emphasis  is  laid,  not  upon  the  outline  itself,  but  upon  the 
use  to  which  it  is  put.  The  test  of  value  is  the  connected 
account  which  the  pupil  is  able  to  give  of  the  paragraph 
or  the  lesson. 


310  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

An  average  class  will  in  the  course  of  eight  or  ten 
practice  lessons  of  this  type  learn  how  to  apply  the  plan 
without  directions  and  without  questions,  and  the 
recitation  may  then  resolve  itself  in  part  into  a  mere 
"hearing"  of  the  lesson.  The  teacher  announces  a 
topic  and,  after  a  brief  pause  to  give  the  class  a  start  in 
thinking  about  it,  calls  upon  A.  The  floor  now  belongs 
wholly  to  A.  All  the  time  there  is  is  his,  and  he  is  free  to 
develop  the  topic  in  his  own  way  without  interruptions 
of  any  kind.  After  A  has  made  his  contribution  other 
members  of  the  class  offer  criticism  or  ask  questions. 
If  the  ground  has  not  been  satisfactorily  covered,  it  is 
covered  a  second  time  by  B,  and  then  perhaps  a  third 
time  by  C.  Then  comes  the  teacher's  turn.  The  pupils 
are  questioned  to  make  sure  that  they  understand  what 
they  have  been  discussing.  If  they  do  not,  the  teacher 
guides  them  in  further  consideration  of  the  topic  and, 
when  necessary,  adds  explanations.  All  this  is  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  the  data  clearly  before  the 
class.  The  next  step  is  to  lead  the  pupils  to  make 
comparisons  with  other  known  data,  to  recognize  differ- 
ences and  resemblances,  to  draw  inferences,  and  to  trace 
relations. 

The  ideal  of  this  type  of  lesson  is  to  make  the  pupil 
so  intelligent  in  his  use  of  a  textbook  that  he  may,  by 
a  single  reading,  and  without  the  formality  of  writing 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  311 

out  an  outline,  learn  what  he  ought  to  learn.  The 
ideal  recitation  for  such  a  lesson  is  one  in  which  the 
data  furnished  by  the  textbook  are  disposed  of  in 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  so  that  the  remainder  of 
the  period  can  be  devoted  to  elaboration  and  to  appli- 
cations of  the  data,  with  the  emphasis  upon  the 
applications. 

There  are  other  ways  of  dealing  with  the  textbook. 
The  pupil  may,  with  or  without  specific  guidance,  pre- 
pare lessons  and  not  recite  them.  The  class  period  may 
in  such  cases  be  devoted  wholly  to  discussions  that  either 
supplement  the  information  provided  by  the  text  or 
turn  that  information  to  account  in  making  comparisons, 
in  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect,  in  building  up  generali- 
zations. Or  no  outside  preparation  may  be  required. 
The  time  in  class  may  be  spent  in  reading  the  textbook, 
in  making  outlines  or  digests,  or  in  summarizing  in  some 
other  way  essentials.  The  teacher  may  make  running 
comments  and  ask  questions  designed  to  make  the  pupil 
think  about  his  reading,  with  or  without  imposing  upon 
him  the  burden  of  remembering  anything.  Or,  with 
books  open  and  the  class  merely  skimming  the  pages, 
the  teacher  may  talk  about  the  "big  things,"  with  here 
and  there  a  question  to  stimulate  thought. 

Some  teachers  believe  that  more  than  one  textbook 
should  be  used.  This  was  proposed  by  the  Madison 


312  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Conference.  "We  recommend,"  said  the  Conference, 
at  a  practice  be  established  jn  the  schools  of  using 
two,  three,  or  four  parallel  textbooks  at  a  time.  By 
preparing  in  different  books,  or  by  using  more  than  one 
book  on  a  lesson,  pupils  will  acquire  the  habit  of  com- 
parison and  the  no  less  important  habit  of  doubting 
whether  any  one  book  covers  the  ground."  1  The  cus- 
tom of  using  more  than  one  book  can  be  dated  far  back 
of  the  Madison  Conference.  It  had,  however,  been  as- 
sociated with  communities  in  which  pupils  were  in 
the  habit  of  bringing  such  textbooks  as  the  family 
happened  to  possess,  and  teachers  had  singularly  over- 
looked such  advantages  as  were  suggested  by  the  Con- 
ference. "If,"  wrote  Horace  Mann  in  1837,  "eight  or 
ten  scholars  .  .  .  have  eight  or  ten  different  books,  as 
has  sometimes  happened,  instead  of  one  recitation  for  all, 
there  must  be  eight  or  ten  recitations.  Thus  the  teacher's 
time  is  crumble^  into  dust  and  dissipated.  Put  a  ques- 
tion to  a  class  of  ten  scholars,  and  wait  a  moment  for 
each  one  to  prepare  an  answer  in  his  own  mind,  and 
then  name  the  one  to  give  the  answer,  and  there  are  ten 
mental  operations  going  on  simultaneously;  and  each 
one  of  the  ten  scholars  will  profit  more  by  this  social  rec- 
itation than  he  would  by  a  solitary  one  of  the  same 
length.  But  if  there  must  be  ten  recitations  instead  of 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  189. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  313 

one,  the  teacher  is,  as  it  were,  divided  by  ten,  and  re- 
duced to  the  tenth  part  of  a  teacher.  Nine-tenths  of 
his  usefulness  is  destroyed."1  There  are  still  teachers 
in  backward  communities  who  are  struggling  with  the 
difficulty  described  by  Horace  Mann  and  who  see  the 
difficulty  much  as  he  saw  it.  That  some  teachers  de- 
liberately create  the  condition  and  reap  advantages  from 
it  is  not  to  be  denied.  But  in  general  the  time  required 
for  the  learning  of  more  than  one  textbook  would  bring 
more  valuable  results  if  devoted  to  collateral  reading  in 
works  other  than  textbooks. 

In  any  form  of  lesson-reciting  an  important  place 
must  be  assigned  to  questioning.  Questions  should, 
first  of  all,  be  clear,  definite,  and  concise.  They  should 
be  so  phrased  as  to  be  intelligible  without  repetition  or 
reconstruction.  Classes  learn  in  time  to  know  what  a 
teacher  means  by  awkwardly  framed  or  ambiguous 
questions,  but  often  the  answers  returned  ought  not 
logically  to  be  forthcoming.  Pupils  answer  because 
they  guess,  in  spite  of  the  question,  what  the  teacher 
wants.  This  is  bad  both  for  the  teacher  and  for  the  pupil. 
It  would  be  better  for  both  if  there  were  more  pupils 
like  the  boy  in  the  story  from  Ohio.  Said  the  teacher, 
"You  know  what  I  want  you  to  say,  Johnnie ;  why  don't 
you  say  it?"  "I  know  what  you  want  all  right," 

1  Report  to  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  1837,  p.  34. 


314  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

responded  Johnnie,  "but  you  ain't  asked  the  question 
what  fetches  it."  l 

Questions  are  of  two  general  kinds :  those  that  call 
for  facts,  and  those  that  call  for  the  use  of  facts.  Under 
the  former  are  included  all  questions  answered  directly 
in  the  textbook.  Under  the  latter  are  included  all 
questions  that  require  independent  selection,  grouping, 
comparison,  inference,  and  application.  Questions  of 
the  first  kind  are  memory  questions.  Questions  of  the 
second  kind  are  thought  questions.  Questions  of  either 
kind  may  assume  a  variety  of  general  forms.  They  may 
be  questions  that  can  be  answered  by  yes  or  no.  Did 
Pitt  sympathize  with  the  colonies  in  1774?  Did  Pitt 
have  anything  to  do  with  bringing  on  the  American 
Revolution?  They  may  be  alternative  questions.  Did 
Franklin  look  with  favor  or  disfavor  upon  the  Stamp 
Act?  Was  Franklin's  attitude  toward  the  Stamp  Act 
wise  or  unwise?  They  may  be  leading  questions.  To 
stop  smuggling  in  the  colonies  the  English  government 
resorted  to  what  kinds  of  writs?  What  reasons  had 
Hancock  as  a  prominent  Boston  merchant  for  his  opposi- 
tion to  English  policy  ?  They  may  name  a  subject  or 
indicate  a  line  of  thought  and  leave  the  pupil  to  develop 
it.  What  were  the  causes  of  the  American  Revolution? 
Why  was  George  Washington  chosen  commander-in- 

1  Stevens,  The  Question  as  a  Measure  of  Efficiency  in  Instruction,  4. 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  315 

chief?    They  may,  as  in  the  examples  cited  earlier  in 
this  chapter,  analyze  a  topic. 

Questions  that  can  be  answered  by  yes  or  no  and  al- 
ternative  questions  should  not  be  too  sweepingly  con- 
demned.  They  can  be  so  phrased  as  to  exercise  both 
memory  and  the  powers  of  reflection.  Their  chief  use 
is,  however,  to  place  the  pupil  on  record,  to  establish  a 
point  of  departure  for  criticism  of  some  previous  state- 
ment or  for  further  development.  Leading  questions  / 
are  most  frequently  employed  in  the  developmental  L' 
type  of  lesson,  and  here  often  convey  the  impression  that 
the  pupil  is  building  up  knowledge  which  is  really  being 
built  up  for  him  by  the  teacher.  Such  a  procedure  is 
scarcely  to  be  justified.  But  the  leading  question  has 
its  uses.  It  may,  like  yes  or  no  questions,  serve  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  the  pupil  on  record  for  further  discussion. 
It  may  occasionally  lead  in  the  wrong  direction  for  the 
purpose  of  testing  the  intellectual  wariness  of  a  pupil. 
In  the  main,  however,  teachers  should  ask  questions  that 
name  subjects  or  indicate  lines  of  thought  and,  when 
necessary,  questions  that  guide  analysis. 

Questions  that  name  subjects  frequently  involve  a 
waste  of  words.  Discuss  Pericles,  tell  what  you  know 
about  Pericles,  what  can  you  say  of  Pericles?  what  do 
you  know  about  Pericles  ?  —  these  are  awkward,  and  in 
some  respects  objectionable,  ways  of  announcing  the 


316  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

topic  Pericles.  A  high  school  boy  was  asked  what  he 
knew  about  Alexander  the  Great.  "Alexander/*  be 
answered,  "rode  a  fast  horse  in  his  youth  and  died 
drunk."  "You  get  a  zero  for  that,"  remarked  the 
teacher  grimly.  "But  I  did  what  you  asked  me," 
insisted  the  boy,  "I  told  you  what  I  know."  The  simple 
topic,  Alexander  the  Great,  might  have  elicited  the  same 
answer,  but  the  teacher  would  have  had  better  ground 
for  the  zero. 

Questions,  whatever  their  form,  should  deal  with 
manageable  units.  A  teacher  in  a  recent  lesson  asked  a 
pupil  in  the  first  year  of  the  high  school,  "What  influence 
have  the  literature  and  philosophy  of  ancient  Athens 
had  on  our  own  literature?"  Another  teacher  asked  a 
pupil  in  the  third  year  of  the  high  school  to  "compare  the 
labor  laws  of  Elizabeth  with  the  labor  laws  of  our  own 
country  or  state."  The  climax  was,  perhaps,  attained 
by  stiD  another  teacher  who  asked  a  pupil  in  a  sixth 
grade  to  "compare  the  civilization  of  Athens  with  the 
dvihzatioa  of  the  United  States!"  Such  questions, 
unless  specifically  raised  and  discussed  in  the  textbook 
or  previously  summarized  in  class,  are,  of  course,  im- 
possible. Comparison  should  begin  with  specific  acts  or 
specific  beliefs  of  particular  men,  or  with  specific  condi- 
tions or  specific  events.  Later  on,  one  historical  char- 
acter may  be  compared  with  another  historical  character, 


THE   USE  OF  TEXTBOOKS  317 

one  war  with  another  war,  one  political  compaign  with 
another  political  campaign,  one  industry  with  another 
industry. 

"Teachers,''  says  Miss  Stevens,  "are  rarely  at  a  loss 
for  questions  —  in  fact  it  seems  that  the  first  considera- 
tion with  many  is  ability  to  ask  them  rapidly.  The 
situation  as  I  have  found  it  since  I  have  been  making  a 
study  of  the  subject  makes  me  appreciate  the  attitude 
of  the  youthful  teacher  of  history,  who  said  with  assur- 
ance upon  accepting  her  first  position,  '  Oh,  Fm  going  to 
ask  questions  so  fast  that  the  pupils  will  have  no  chance 
to  think  of  anything.'"1  This  ideal  seems  often  to  be 
actually  realized  in  practice.  In  the  recitations  in  history 
observed  by  Miss  Stevens,  the  number  of  questions  asked 
during  a  forty -five  minute  period  ranged  from  41  to  142 ; 
that  is,  from  about  one  per  minute  to  about  three  per 
minute.8  Such  a  pace  is  obviously  fatal  to  any  real 
thinking  and  can  mean  little  more  than  the  testing  of 
the  memory. 

There  is  a  place  for  rapid-fire  memory  questions.  They 
are  useful  for^urposes  of  drill  and  review.  They  are 
fair  and  proper  tests  of  the  reaction  time  of  the  pupil. 
But  most  teachers  agree,  in  theory  at  least,  that  the 
emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  questions  that  stimulate 
thought. 

1  Stevens,  Tkf  Qmtstie*  as  «  Measmn  tf  Gfnrmcy  m  In 
11-15. 


318  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Recitations  of  any  type  may  be  either  oral  or  writ- 
ten. Most  American  schools  have  too  little  rather 
than  too  much  written  work.  But  for  the  difficulty 
of  finding  time  to  read  papers  it  would  be  -a  wise 
rule  to  have  some  written  work  in  every  recitation. 
That  difficulty  cannot  be  wholly  overcome.  Yet  most 
of  the  papers  can  be  made  brief.  There  can  be  a  daily 
exercise  of  not  more  than  five  minutes  on  some  question 
announced  at  the  opening  of  the  recitation,  a  weekly 
exercise  of  fifteen  minutes  on  a  single  question,  or  on  a 
series  of  questions  requiring  brief  answers,  and  occasional 
exercises  occupying  the  entire  class  period.  Many  of 
these  papers  can  be  exchanged  and  marked  in  class, 
the  teacher  giving  the  answers  and  the  pupils  giving 
the  marks.  Pupils,  moreover,  receive  training  in  writing, 
whether  all  of  the  papers  are  read  or  not.  A  teacher 
responsible  for  one  hundred  pupils  in  the  high  school 
cannot  be  expected  to  read  one  hundred  papers  a  day. 
He  can  read  ten  of  the  hundred.  He  can  select  parts 
of  the  ten  for  discussion  in  class  and  thus  reach  most  of 
the  conditions  that  call  for  criticism  or  commendation. 

It  would  be  idle  to  propose  any  one  solution  of  the 
textbook  problem  as  the  best  for  all  possible  cases. 
That  may  be  left  to  enthusiasts  who  believe  in  panaceas. 
But  the  self-activity  of  the  pupil  holds  so  large  a  place 
in  American  discussions  of  education  that  the  plan  of 


THE   USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  319 

teaching  the  pupil  to  study  the  textbook  independently 
and  to  sum  up  in  class,  without  the  assistance  of  guiding 
questions,  what  he  has  learned,  merits  some  special 
consideration. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  plan  is  impossible,  that 
it  puts  too  great  a  strain  upon  the  pupil,  or  that  it  de- 
stroys interest.  To  this  there  is  the  general  answer 
that  the  plan  can  at  the  cost  of  a  little  time  be  tested 
in  any  school.  Teachers  who  fear  loss  of  interest  do 
not  take  sufficient  account  of  the  pleasure  that  comes 
with  a  sense  of  mastery.  To  give  the  pupil  a  sense  of 
mastery  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  secrets  of  making  history 
interesting.  No  one  can  feel  much  enthusiasm  in  dis- 
cussing what  he  does  not  know  or  even  in  applying  what 
he  does  not  know  to  the  solution  of  problems.  The 
analysis  of  a  lesson,  it  may  be  added,  offers  in  itself  a 
very  respectable  problem. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  learning  and  reciting 
feature  of  the  plan  is  simply  a  return  to  the  dark  ages  of 
history  teaching.  But  this  is  to  ignore  fundamental  dis- 
tinctions in  the  manner  of  preparing  lessons,  in  the 
purpose  of  testing  for  results,  and  in  the  place  assigned 
to  such  results  in  the  general  scheme  of  recitation.  The 
learning  and  reciting  constitute  only  a  part  of  the 
lesson.  The  other  and  more  important  part  consists  of 
turning  what  has  been  learned  from  the  textbook  to  use. 


320  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  very  responsibility  placed 
upon  the  pupil  in  giving  him  free  rein  to  develop  in  his 
own  way  a  topic  is  a  standing  invitation  to  inattention 
on  the  part  of  the  class.  The  possibility  of  inattention 
must  be  admitted,  but  it  is  not  peculiar  to  this  type  of 
recitation.  Some  of  the  least  attentive  of  all  classes  are 
those  constantly  under  the  fire  of  "short,  sharp  ques- 
tions." The  evil  is  in  many  cases  aggravated  by  the 
habit  of  making  the  recitation  an  affair  between  the 
teacher  and  the  individual  pupil  who  happens  to  be 
reciting.  "Tell  me,"  says  the  teacher,  "about  Alex- 
ander the  Great."  "Tell  me  what  the  Spartans  did 
after  the  battle  of  Thermopylae."  "Tell  me  where  was 
opposition  to  Julius  Caesar."  Some  teachers  of  excep- 
tionally strong  and  attractive  personality  may  find  this 
introduction  of  a  "pleasing  personal  element"  effective. 
The  majority  will  do  well  to  encourage  an  entirely 
different  attitude  toward  the  lesson.  Say  to  the  pupil : 
"You  are  not  telling  this  to  me.  You  are  telling  it  to 
the  class.  Think  of  it  as  something  which  no  one  here 
has  ever  heard  of  before.  Tell  it  in  such  a  way  that  a 
person  who  had  actually  never  heard  of  it  before  would 
understand  all  about  it.  Tell  it  so  well  that  we  shall 
all  be  interested.  It  is  quite  possible  in  this  way  to 
give  the  pupil  a  different  conception  of  his  own  contri- 
bution, to  make  him  feel  that  if  he  does  not  hold  the  , 


THE  USE   OF  TEXTBOOKS  321 

attention  of  the  class  the  fault  is  his  and  not  the  teacher's, 
to  place  him  consciously  in  the  position  of  the  sensi- 
tive preacher  or  lecturer  who  finds  his  audience  going 
to  sleep.  Experiment  has  shown  that  attention  often 
follows  if  only  as  a  matter  of  courtesy  and  reciprocity. 
John  listens  to  Charles  and  James,  knowing  that  when 
his  turn  comes,  Charles  and  James  will  listen  to  him. 

The  real  difficulty  is  not  so  much  lack  of  attention  on 
the  part  of  the  class  as  lack  of  self-restraint  and  patience 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  There  are  those  to  whom 
the  mere  thought  of  thirty  seconds  of  silence  in  the  class- 
room is  intolerable.  If  the  pupil  hesitates  an  instant 
he  is  lost.  There  are  others  to  whom  a  mispronounced 
word,  a  slip  in  grammar,  a  wrong  name,  or  a  wrong  date 
is  the  signal  for  immediate  interference.  The  reaction 
time  of  the  slow  pupil  should  of  course  be  quickened. 
Errors  should  of  course  be  corrected.  Every  pupil  has 
a  right  to  know  whether  he  has  done  well  or  ill.  It  is 
tenderness  altogether  misplaced  to  let  any  pupil  off  with 
half  statements  or  with  statements  only  half  true.  The 
habit  of  some  teachers  of  pronouncing  everything  "very 
good,"  or  of  correcting  a  pupil  so  gently  that  he  does 
not  know  that  he  has  been  corrected,  is  to  be  deplored. 
It  may  not  be  altogether  wise  to  indicate  to  a  pupil  his 
exact  rank  in  the  class.  A  French  teacher  one  day 
said  to  a  pupil,  "You  are  the  grandson  of  our  premier 

Tt 


322  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

but  you  are  the  last  in  your  class,"  and  the  pupil  readily 
admitted  the  fact.  Another  French  teacher  openly  re- 
marked to  a  visitor,  "Our  best  pupil  is  absent  to-day," 
and  the  class  all  nodded  approvingly.  This  is  the  other 
extreme,  but  it  is  on  the  whole  preferable  to  leaving  a 
pupil  entirely  comfortable  when,  for  his  intellectual  sal- 
vation, he  ought  to  be  uncomfortable.  Criticism  is  to 
be  encouraged  and  not  discouraged.  Contributions  by 
the  teacher  are  to  be  encouraged  and  not  discouraged. 
But  the  slow  and  the  quick,  the  erring  and  the  letter 
perfect,  are  alike  entitled  to  their  day  in  court  before 
sentence  is  passed  or  the  recitation  taken  out  of  their 
hands.  If  the  pupil  is  to  do  his  part,  he  must  have  a 
fair  chance,  and  if  he  is  to  have  a  fair  chance,  the  teacher 
must  cultivate  the  golden  but  neglected  art  of  knowing^ 
when  to  keep  still. 


CHAPTER  Xin 

THE  SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  COLLATERAL 
READING 

WHILE  the  textbook  is  in  the  United  States  the  chief 
instrument  of  school  instruction  in  history,  a  convic- 
tion has  developed,  especially  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  that  the  textbook  should  be  supplemented  by 
collateral  reading.  The  need  of  reference  books  was 
strongly  emphasized  by  the  Madison  Conference. 
"Recitations  alone,"  it  was  declared,  "cannot  possibly 
make  up  proper  teaching  of  history.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary,  from  the  earliest  to  the  last  grades,  that  there 
should  be  parallel  reading  of  some  kind." l  Some 
progress  in  meeting  this  condition  had  been  made 
before  1892.  Information  collected  by  the  Conference 
seemed  to  indicate  that  about  one-fifth  of  the  grammar 
schools  reporting,  and  about  one-half  of  the  high  schools 
and  academies,  required  some  work  outside  of  the  text- 
book. But  this  work  seems  to  have  been  viewed,  even 
by  some  teachers  who  required  it,  as  desirable  rather 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  192. 
323 


324  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

than  as  "absolutely  necessary."  "The  main  necessity," 
urged  the  conference,  "is  that  teachers  should  have  it 
firmly  fixed  in  their  minds  that  it  is  as  impossible  to 
teach  history  without  reference  books,  as  it  is  to  teach 
chemistry  without  glass  and  rubber  tubing."  1 

"The  main  necessity,"  so  far  as  the  high  schools  were 
concerned,  appears  to  have  been  met  with  promptness 
and  energy.  The  Committee  of  Seven  in  1899  found  little 
difference  of  opinion  "on  the  question  of  supplementing 
the  textbooks  with  additional  reading  of  some  sort." 
"Only  one  principal  known  to  the  Committee"  advo- 
cated "the  extensive  use  of  the  textbook  with  little  or 
no  additional  work."  Between  theory  and  practice 
there  was,  however,  a  considerable  gulf.  "It  is  sur- 
prising," observed  the  Committee,  "to  find  how  few 
schools  really  seem  fitted  out  with  good  collections  of 
standard  secondary  writers,  suitable  either  for  reading 
or  for  written  work."  In  view  of  the  lack  of  material 
it  was  less  surprising  to  find  that  three-fourths  of  the 
schools  reporting  had  no  specified  requirement  of  col- 
lateral  reading,  and  that  pupils  were  apparently  left  to 
browse  without  any  system  of  enforcing  readings. 
From  the  replies  received  the  Committee  drew  the  con- 
servative inference  that  the  schools  had  not  as  yet 
"fully  introduced  the  system  of  collateral  reading," 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  193. 


COLLATERAL   READING  325 

and  that  many  of  them  did  not  have  the  necessary 
library.1 

The  last  fifteen  years  have  brought  material  gains. 
Many  schools  now  have  good  libraries  and  make  good 
use  of  them.  But  the  comments  of  the  Committee  of 
Seven  on  the  situation  in  1899  are  still  to  a  large  extent 
applicable.  Much  of  the  work  assigned  is  still  wholly 
optional.  There  is  still  a  conspicuous  absence  of  any 
general  system  of  specified  requirements.  There  is  still, 
in  many  cases,  a  lack  of  the  necessary  library. 

The  difficulty  has  been  in  part  one  of  finding  time  for 
work  outside  of  the  textbook,  and  in  part  one  of  secur- 
ing funds  for  the  purchase  of  books.  It  has,  perhaps, 
in  larger  part  been  a  lack  of  definiteness  in  principles  of 
grading,  in  the  statement  of  aims,  and  in  methods  of 
selecting  and  managing  library  material.  Numerous 
lists  of  very  definite  references  have  been  compiled. 
Examples  may  be  found  in  books  on  the  teaching  of 
history,  in  courses  of  study,  in  special  guides  to  his- 
torical material,  and  in  ordinary  textbooks.  There  are 
lists  that  modestly  confine  work  outside  of  the  textbook 
mainly  to  readings  in  other  textbooks,  lists  that  refer 
almost  exclusively  to  material  prepared  expressly  for 
supplementary  reading,  lists  that  place  the  chief  em- 
phasis upon  historical  fiction  and  poetry,  lists  that  refer 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  144,  145. 


326  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

for  the  most  part  to  standard  secondary  works  and 
standard  primary  sources,  and  lists  that  include,  with- 
out fear  or  favor,  references  to  textbooks,  to  simplified 
supplementary  material,  to  fiction  and  poetry,  and  to 
standard  secondary  works  and  standard  sources.  Ap- 
parently no  taste  nor  interest  nor  stage  of  intelligence  nor 
financial  condition  has  been  neglected.  But  relatively 
few  of  these  lists  suggest  on  analysis  any  high  degree 
of  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  materials  or  make 
clear  the  special  ends  to  be  served  and  how  to  serve 
them. 

What,  for  example,  is  to  be  expected  from  readings 
in  other  textbooks?  The  materials  have  the  merit  of 
being  inexpensive  and  easy  to  obtain.  They  may  to  a 
slight  extent  impress  upon  pupils  the  fact  that  not  all 
of  history  is  in  any  one  book.  They  may  to  a  slight 
extent  illustrate  differences  in  point  of  view,  and  occa- 
sionally call  attention  to  discrepancies  in  fact.  But  as 
a  plan  for  supplementing  in  any  real  sense  the  class 
textbook  they  approach  the  climax  of  futility.  What 
is  to  be  expected  of  simplified  supplementary  material? 
Here  again  the  material  is  inexpensive  and  easy  to 
obtain.  Some  of  it  is  excellent,  both  as  reading  and  as 
history.  Much  of  it  is,  however,  like  the  ordinary 
textbook,  put  together  on  the  familiar  principle  of 
making  a  long  chapter  simple  by  reducing  it  to  a  short 


COLLATERAL   READING  327 

paragraph.    Much  of  it  suffers  from  the  further   dis- 
advantage of  being  quite  unhistorical. 

References  to  other  textbooks  and  to  simplified  sup- 
plementary material  recognize  at  least  that  there  is  a 
problem  of  grading  history.  What  is  to  be  expected  of 
lists  in  which  no  conception  of  grading  is  discoverable  ? 
There  are  lists  for  the  elementary  school  which  are  in 
large  part  duplicated  for  the  high  school,  and  even  for 
college  courses  in  history.  In  some  cases,  indeed,  the 
chief  difference  is  in  the  amount  of  reading  suggested, 
and  this  difference  is  not  always  in  favor  of  the  ele- 
mentary school.  One  of  the  simplest  and  most  success- 
ful of  grammar  school  histories  has  in  its  list  of  refer- 
ences on  the  American  Revolution :  Hart,  Formation 
of  the  Union,  chapters  3-4;  Howard,  Preliminaries  of 
the  Revolution,  chapters  3-13 ;  Van  Tyne,  American 
Revolution,  chapters  1-17 ;  Hart,  American  History  told 
by  Contemporaries,  II,  chapters  21-35  ;  and  half  a  dozen 
other  works  of  similar  grade.  One  of  the  most  advanced 
textbooks  for  the  senior  year  of  the  high  school  has  in 
its  list  of  references  on  the  American  Revolution  pre- 
cisely the  same  works,  but  the  readings  are  less  extended. 
The  reading  in  Howard  is,  for  example,  chapters  1-5, 
and  15-17,  and  in  Van  Tyne,  chapters  4-6,  and  7-17. 
The  works  here  enumerated  are  at  least  fairly  accessible. 
There  are  lists  that  show,  not  only  a  singular  lack  of 


328  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

discrimination  in  the  matter  of  grading,  but  a  curious 
disregard  of  ordinary  library  resources.  A  high  school 
textbook  in  United  States  history,  issued  by  one  of  the 
best  known  publishing  houses  in  the  country;  refers 
to  such  works  as  Kingsford's  ten-volume  History  of 
Canada,  the  collected  writings  of  Adams,  Jefferson, 
Franklin,  and  Dickinson,  Force's  American  Archives, 
the  New  York  State  Documents,  and  the  Annual  Regis- 
ter for  1765,  as  familiarly  as  if  these  were  an  indispen- 
sable part  of  every  school  library  ! 

Before  accepting  any  ready-made  list,  or  attempting 
to  draw  up  an  independent  list,  the  teacher  should  raise 
very  definitely  and  answer  very  definitely  certain  fun- 
damental questions.  Why  is  collateral  reading  essen- 
tial ?  What  are  the  main  purposes  to  be  served  ?  What 
kinds  of  readings  are  suitable?  What  kinds  of  readings 
shall  be  required,  and  what  kinds  shall  be  optional? 
Shall  the  readings  be  the  same  for  all  members  of  the 
class,  or  shall  they  be  differentiated?  Shall  they  be 
confined  to  a  few  books,  or  shall  the  pupil  be  introduced 
to  as  many  different  books  as  possible?  How  much 
reading  may  reasonably  be  expected?  How  shall  read- 
ings be  assigned?  How  reported?  On  what  prin- 
ciple, or  principles,  shall  materials  be  collected  for  a 
small  library?  for  a  large  library?  What  constitutes 
a  good  working  library? 


COLLATERAL   READING  329 

The  claims  for  collateral  reading  have,  perhaps,  at 
times  been  exaggerated.  It  may  not  be  altogether  im- 
possible to  teach  some  chemistry  "without  glass  and 
rubber  tubing."  It  may  not  be  altogether  impossible 
to  teach  some  history  "without  reference  books."  It 
may  be  that  a  good  textbook,  intelligently  studied  and 
intelligently  discussed  in  class,  can  be  made  to  yield 
results  that  are  at  least  respectable.  This  possibility 
should  not  be  overlooked.  Indeed,  if  the  choice,  as 
some  teachers  think,  is  between  knowing  one  book 
thoroughly  and  knowing  a  number  of  books  superficially, 
there  is  something  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  one  book. 
At  the  same  time  textbooks  as  a  class  are  not  entirely 
self-explanatory  to  all  pupils.  Most  of  them  require 
frequent  elaboration.  The  one  book  cannot  be  known 
thoroughly  without  knowing  more  than  the  one  book 
reveals.  The  choice,  then,  is  not  between  one  book 
and  more  than  one;  it  is  between  elaboration  by  the 
teacher  and  elaboration  by  means  of  collateral  reading. 
European  conditions  in  general  favor  the  former ; 
American  conditions  in  general  favor  the  latter.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  whole  burden  of  elaboration  is 
or  can  be  shifted  to  collateral  reading.  In  any  proper 
teaching  of  history  there  must  be  contributions  by  the 
teacher.  But  American  theories  and  American  condi- 
tions are  alike  unfavorable  to  any  large  amount  of  oral 


330  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

instruction,  and  alike  force  upon  most  teachers  the 
alternative  of  shifting  to  collateral  reading  the  main 
burden. 

Collateral  reading  is  needed  to  make  the  textbook 
itself  intelligible.  This  suggests:  (i)  materials  to  add 
elements  of  reality,  and  (2)  materials  to  add  informa- 
tion important  as  information.  There  are  other  needs 
quite  as  apparent.  American  conditions  demand  of 
history  teaching  something  more  than  atmosphere  and 
facts.  There  are  tastes  to  be  cultivated,  interests  to  be 
stimulated,  kinds  of  insight  to  be  developed,  and  habits 
to  be  formed,  that  open  of  necessity  a  field  beyond  the 
textbook.  Such  further  needs  suggest:  (3)  materials 
to  make  history  interesting  or  inspiring;  (4)  materials 
to  give  acquaintance  with  historical  literature;  and 
(5)  materials  to  illustrate  the  historical  method  of  study. 
All  of  these  are  needs  to  be  recognized  in  any  scheme  of 
collateral  reading  that  professes  to  be  adequate.  They 
do  not,  in  all  cases,  imply  different  kinds  of  material. 
The  same  material  may  at  times  serve  more  than  one 
purpose,  and  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  adapted  to 
more  than  one  purpose.  Often,  however,  conditions 
will  require  a  differentiation  of  material.  In  any  case 
the  purposes  themselves  should  be  differentiated,  for 
each  implies  a  treatment  of  material  somewhat  pecul- 
iar to  itself. 


COLLATERAL   READING  331 

The  significance  and  general  conditions  of  making 
the  past  real,  the  materials  available  for  the  purpose, 
and  their  limitations,  have  been  considered  in  earlier 
chapters.  Collateral  reading  assigned  primarily,  or 
chiefly,  for  this  purpose  should  not  be  treated  as  material 
to  be  learned  and  recited.  As  already  pointed  out, 
details  in  a  high  degree  useful  in  stimulating  the  sense 
of  reality  are  often  details  of  a  kind  that  no  historian 
would  dignify  as  history,  and  no  teacher  ought  to 
dignify  them  as  material  to  be  remembered,  or  even  as 
material  to  be  entered  in  the  notebook.  They  may  be 
used  as  material  for  dramas,  for  imaginary  letters  and 
diaries,  and  for  other  exercises  that  invite  in  a  special 
way  conscious  effort  to  turn  back  the  clock  of  time. 
They  may  simply  be  read  for  impressions,  for  atmosphere. 
The  essential  condition  is  that  they  should  leave  behind 
feelings  for  and  about  the  past. 

Collateral  reading  assigned  primarily,  or  chiefly,  for 
the  purpose  of  adding  information  important  as  infor- 
mation presents  quite  a  different  problem.  Such  read- 
ing includes  presumably  facts  that  are  to  be  both  learned 
and  recited.  It  is,  therefore,  in  all  essentials  to  be 
treated  in  the  same  manner  as  the  textbook  itself. 
The  pupil  may  be  assisted  by  ready-made  outlines,  by 
questions,  by  problems,  or  by  other  guiding  devices. 
He  may  be  left  to  find  on  his  own  initiative  what  he 


332  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

ought  to  find,  and  to  report  in  class  his  own  independent 
summary.  He  may  in  all  cases  be  required  to  enter  in 
his  notebook  the  main  facts.  The  reading  must,  then, 
be  of  such  a  character  as  to  lend  itself  to  analysis  and 
summary.  It  is  not  enough  that  an  account  is  authori- 
tative and  not  too  long.  It  is  not  enough  that  it  is 
easy  to  read.  Many  accounts  that  meet  these  condi- 
tions defy  analysis  and  leave  only  the  vague  impression 
that  something  tremendously  important  or  surpassingly 
beautiful  or  hopelessly  ugly  "passed  that  way."  Such 
dissolving  panoramas  of  adjectives  have  their  place  in 
a  scheme  of  collateral  reading,  but  that  place  is  not  to 
supply  information.  If  there  is  to  be  analysis,  there 
must  be  something  in  the  form  of  definite,  perceptible 
conditions  or  events  to  analyze. 

Collateral  reading  assigned  primarily,  or  chiefly,  to 
make  history  interesting  or  inspiring  should  be  treated 
merely  as  good  reading.  The  pupil  should  feel  under 
no  compulsion  to  analyze  or  to  summarize.  There 
should  be  no  set  questions  to  answer,  no  problems  to 
solve,  no  necessary  looking  forward  to  any  formal 
report,  but  complete  freedom  to  read  because  he  likes 
it,  or  to  stop  reading  because  he  dislikes  it.  The  pupil 
should,  however,  be  encouraged  to  express  his  honest 
opinions  of  the  readings  as  readings.  If,  as  will  often 
be  the  case,  he  forgets  to  stop  at  the  end  of  the  assign- 


COLLATERAL   READING  333 

ment,  if  he  reads  a  whole  chapter  where  only  one  page 
was  suggested,  or  if  he  reads  a  whole  book  where  only 
one  chapter  was  suggested,  he  will  want  to  talk  about 
his  experience  and  should  have  the  opportunity.  He 
should  also  be  encouraged  to  copy  in  his  notebook 
passages  which,  for  any  reason,  arouse  his  special  en- 
thusiasm, and  to  commit  some  of  them  to  memory.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  will  also  often  be  the  case,  he 
stops  before  the  end  of  the  assignment,  if  his  sole  im- 
pression is  one  of  "I  don't  like  it,"  or  "I  hope  never  to 
see  that  book  again,"  he  should  still  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  express  his  opinion,  if  only  as  partial  com- 
pensation for  weariness  occasioned  by  an  unwise  assign- 
ment. The  test  of  success  is  the  pleasure  derived  from 
the  reading,  the  desire  created  for  more  reading,  and  the 
indefinable  stirrings  and  strivings  promoted  by  any 
good  reading. 

Collateral  reading  assigned  primarily,  or  chiefly,  to 
give  acquaintance  with  historical  literature  should  be  so 
treated  as  to  emphasize  the  record  and  the  recorder 
rather  than  what  is  recorded.  The  works  of  historians 
are  themselves  achievements,  in  some  cases  worthy  to 
rank  with  the  most  notable  of  the  achievements  which 
they  record,  and  the  historians  are  themselves  in  con- 
sequence important  historical  characters.  In  any  case 
the  record  is  itself  the  achievement  to  be  considered, 


334  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

and  as  such  cannot  be  considered  entirely  apart  from 
the  recorder.  The  reading  should,  therefore,  include, 
in  addition  to  passages  from  the  record,  some  account 
of  the  recorder,  his  training  for  historical  investigation, 
his  purpose  in  writing,  the  kinds  of  materials  which  he 
used,  his  care  or  lack  of  care  in  sifting  them,  his  per- 
sonal bias,  the  time  devoted  to  his  task.  Passages  in 
the  record  itself  should  be  selected  with  a  view  to  indi- 
cating its  scope  and  general  characteristics.  What 
period  does  it  embrace?  what  peoples  or  countries? 
Is  it  in  general  of  the  story- telling,  the  didactic,  or  the 
scientific  type  ?  Is  its  main  theme  governmental  affairs, 
or  some  other  theme  ?  Does  it  merely  relate  and  explain 
facts,  or  does  it  pass  ethical  and  other  judgments  upon 
them?  Is  it  glaringly  partial  to  one  country  or  race  or 
religion  or  political  system  ?  Is  it  easy  or  hard  to  read  ? 
Is  it  interesting  or  dull  ?  Questions  such  as  these  should 
be  brought  up  for  brief  discussion  in  class.  In  con- 
clusion there  should  be  some  indication  of  what,  in  the 
opinion  of  to-day,  is  the  value  of  the  record  as  historical 
literature. 

Collateral  reading  assigned  primarily,  or  chiefly,  to 
illustrate  the  historical  method  of  study  may  be  treated 
either  as  material  for  oral  discussion  hi  class  or  for 
written  work  to  be  handed  in.  The  general  problem  is, 
of  course,  to  convey  some  impression  of  how  histories  are 


COLLATERAL  READING  335 

made.  This  is  in  part  accomplished  by  such  considera- 
tion of  the  record  and  the  recorder  as  was  suggested  in 
the  last  paragraph.  It  can  be  more  definitely  accom- 
plished by  actual  exercises  in  historical  criticism  and 
construction.  These  require  careful  adjustment.  The 
pupil  should  at  the  beginning  go  to  the  materials  with 
some  simple  and  specific  question  or  problem,  so  framed 
as  to  make  him  conscious  of  some  specific  aspect  of  his- 
torical study.  One  exercise  may  consist  merely  of 
classifying  a  source  as  primary  or  secondary.  Another 
may  raise  the  question,  "What  does  it  mean?"  An- 
other may  raise  the  question,  "Is  it  true?"  In  the 
end  the  pupil  should  recognize  with  some  degree  of  clear- 
ness at  least  that  there  are  different  kinds  of  sources, 
that  there  are  definite  processes  of  criticism,  that  the 
facts  established  vary  in  degree  of  probability,  that 
there  are  different  ways  of  selecting  and  combining  facts, 
and  that  there  is  a  special  apparatus  in  the  form  of 
tables  of  contents,  indexes,  footnotes,  and  systematic 
bibliographical  guides  to  aid  him  in  finding  out  quickly 
what  a  book  is  about,  what  it  has  to  say  on  this  or  that 
topic,  what  its  chief  authorities  are,  and  what  books  or 
articles  have  been  written  on  any  historical  subject 
which  he  may  be  directed  to  look  up  or  in  which  he 
may  be  interested. 
The  material  that  can  be  read  by  children  in  the  first 


336  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

five  or  six  grades  of  the  elementary  school  is  necessarily 
limited.  Most  of  the  reading  should,  therefore,  be  to 
the  class  rather  than  by  the  class.  Emphasis  in  the 
lower  grades  will  naturally  fall  upon  readings  designed 
chiefly  to  make  the  past  real  and  interesting.  But, 
beginning  as  early  as  the  fifth  or  sixth  grade,  some- 
thing can  be  done  through  readings  by  the  teacher  for 
the  promotion  of  all  the  purposes  that  have  been  indi- 
cated. The  range  of  possible  selection  is  wider  than 
some  teachers  seem  to  suspect.  "Our  learned  and  more 
exhaustive  historical  works,"  says  a  writer  who  has 
himself  rendered  valuable  service  in  providing  interest- 
ing material  to  supplement  textbooks,  "are  beyond  the 
reach  of  most  busy  people,  nor  are  they  adapted  to  use 
in  the  schools.  Between  these  two  extremes,  the  con- 
densed textbook  and  the  ponderous  volumes  of  the 
historian,  we  find  many  books  of  great  value  —  biog- 
raphies, memoirs,  histories  of  limited  periods  or  of 
particular  localities  —  but  none  of  these,  as  far  as  the 
author  knows,  is  fitted  for  the  use  of  schools  or  was 
prepared  with  that  end  in  view." l  Here  are  enu- 
merated precisely  the  types  of  works  which,  when  acces- 
sible, contribute  most  richly  the  sort  of  material  needed 
to  make  history  real,  intelligible,  and  interesting.  Many 
of  them  are  in  places  quite  as  concrete,  and  therefore 

1  Elson,  Side  Lights  an  American  History,  I,  p.  vii. 


COLLATERAL   READING  337 

quite  as  simple,  as  the  best  of  accounts  made  over 
especially  for  school  use.  Many  of  them  are  in  places 
more  concrete,  and  therefore  simpler,  than  the  average 
simplified  account.  If  concreteness  is  a  test  of  what  is 
suitable,  it  is  a  mistake  to  hold,  as  many  teachers  do, 
that  the  availability  of  historical  material  for  school 
purposes  varies  inversely  with  its  bulk  and  historical 
importance.  It  is,  however,  at  any  stage  of  school 
instruction,  a  greater  mistake  to  refer  indiscriminately 
to  "the  ponderous  volumes  of  the  historian"  and  to 
"biographies,  memoirs,  histories  of  limited  periods  or  of 
particular  localities."  The  passages  selected  must  meet 
the  necessary  conditions  of  grading,  and  the  works 
themselves  must  be  reasonably  accessible. 

There  are  some  books  that  should  not  be  made  over. 
A  protest,  voiced,  some  years  ago,  against  this  tendency 
in  dealing  with  literature,  applies  also  to  history.  "The 
noble  heritage  of  great  books  that  awaits  every  culti- 
vated person  is  dealt  out  ahead  of  time  in  shreds  and 
patches,  in  ineffective  lumps,  in  diluted  extracts.  The 
publishers'  catalogues  are  filled  with  the  titles:  tales 
from  this  master,  a  child's  version  of  that,  vignettes 
from  the  other.  .  .  .  All  that  has  made  the  book 
delightful  has  been  left  out,  the  personal  equation,  the 
living  presence  of  the  writer  as  perceived  in  his  im- 
mortal words,  for  these  have  been  displaced  by  two 


338  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

syllabled  imitations.  The  spark  of  the  divine  has  been 
quenched.  And  there  is  really  no  stopping  place.  As 
writers  multiply,  new  incursions  will  be  made.  We 
may  have  The  Child's  Own  Faust,  Machiavelli  for  Little 
Tots,  Rabelais  in  Simple  Words,  The  Westminster  Con- 
fession in  Easy  Rhymes,  Little  Dramas  from  Mschy- 
lus" l  History,  like  literature,  may  be  spoiled  by 
bringing  it  "down  to  the  child's  effortless  understand- 
ing." More  history  can  be  read  to  children  before  they 
are  able  to  read  anything  themselves  and  more  can  be 
done  in  shaping  their  tastes  for  historical  reading  than 
is  commonly  supposed.  It  would  be  an  abnormal 
fourth  grade  that  could  read  with  ease  and  certainty 
the  works  of  Francis  Parkman,  but  any  one  who  has 
tried  it  knows  that  a  fourth  grade  by  no  means  abnormal 
will  listen  with  pleasure  to  a  teacher's  readings  from 
Parkman.  Where  such  a  course  is  not  possible,  it  is 
better  to  defer  to  a  later  stage  the  introduction  of  the 
material  than  to  give  it  over  to  the  dull  hand  of  pedagogy 
for  adaptation. 

Readings  to  the  class  have  a  place  in  history  teach- 
ing throughout  the  entire  school  course.  This  is  es- 
pecially true  of  readings  designed  to  kindle  interest  and 
enthusiasm.  The  teacher  who  reads  well  can  make 
many  a  passage  effective  which  even  seniors  in  the  high 

1  Educational  Bi-Monthly,  February,  1908,  p.  225. 


COLLATERAL   READING  339 

school  might  on  their  own  account  read  listlessly  or 
entirely  neglect.  Many  such  readings  will  be  sug- 
gested by  the  discussions  which  spring  up  during  the 
class  period,  and  these  are  often  more  impressive  than 
readings  carefully  planned  in  advance.  On  one  occa- 
sion, in  a  class  not  given  to  much  enthusiasm,  a  mild 
curiosity  concerning  Napoleon's  speech  before  the 
Battle  of  the  Pyramids  led  the  teacher  to  pick  up  a 
book  from  the  desk  and  read  the  speech.  The  words 
caught  the  fancy  of  the  class  and,  for  perhaps  the  first 
time,  lifted  every  member  out  of  boredom.  "Say," 
exclaimed  one  of  the  boys,  "that's  pretty  good,  isn't 
it?"  The  teacher  wisely  took  advantage  of  the  dis- 
covery and  by  the  end  of  the  year  had  a  class  respon- 
sive beyond  all  expectation. 

Collateral  reading  by  the  class  should,  however,  begin 
not  later  than  the  sixth  grade,  and  above  the  seventh 
grade  may  with  profit  be  made  a  part  of  the  daily 
preparation.  Here  again  some  of  the  most  effective 
assignments  will,  throughout  the  course,  be  those  sug- 
gested directly  by  class  discussions.  Again  and  again 
the  wise  teacher  will  interrupt  discussion  and  suggest 
some  reading  as  a  basis  for  continuing  the  discussion  at 
the  next  meeting  of  the  class.  But  there  should  also 
be  regular  readings  carefully  planned  in  advance.  Some 
of  these  will  be  for  information  to  be  reported  in  class 


34°  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

by  designated  individuals.  Others  will  be  readings  for 
groups  of  pupils,  or  for  the  entire  class.  Readings  for 
elaboration  of  the  textbook  and  readings  to  illustrate 
the  historical  method  should,  as  a  rule,  be  the  same  for 
all  and  required  of  all.  Readings  for  inspiration  may  at 
first  be  required,  but,  if  at  all  successful,  may  later  be 
left  largely  optional.  Readings  to  give  acquaintance 
with  historical  literature  may  be  required  the  first  time 
a  work  is  introduced.  Later  readings  in  the  same  work 
may  be  made  optional. 

The  extent  to  which  the  various  purposes  of  collateral 
reading  can  be  served  will  depend  somewhat  upon  the 
nature  of  the  textbook.  With  some  textbooks  the 
need  of  elaboration  to  make  the  book  intelligible  will 
be  suggested  by  almost  every  page.  The  other  kinds 
of  readings  will  then  be  somewhat  limited.  Every 
effort  should,  however,  be  made  to  convey  to  pupils 
some  impression  of  each  of  the  fields.  With  some  text- 
books the  need  of  elaboration  will  be  felt  only  in  the 
treatment  of  certain  special  topics.  The  readings  can 
then  be  devoted  largely  to  inspiration  and  to  illustra- 
tions of  historical  literature  and  of  the  historical  method. 
The  system  of  readings  should  in  any  case  provide  for 
alternations  of  what  is  required  and  what  is  optional, 
so  as  to  include  in  turn  different  types  of  readings  under 
each. 


COLLATERAL   READING  341 

In  the  assignment  of  collateral  reading  the  first  rule 
is  to  avoid  waste  of  time  in  making  the  assignment. 
The  lists  of  readings  for  a  week,  or  for  two  weeks,  should 
either  be  mimeographed  and  distributed  in  class  or 
posted  in  some  convenient  place.  The  second  rule  is  to 
avoid  waste  of  time  in  finding  the  books.  Each  class 
should,  so  far  as  possible,  have  a  reserve  shelf,  open 
without  any  preliminaries  and  within  easy  reach. 
There  should  also  be  designated  reading  periods  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  prevent  conflicts  in  the  use  of  books.  The 
smaller  the  library,  the  greater  the  need  of  such  ad- 
justment. A  class  may,  for  example,  be  divided  into 
two  sections,  A  and  B.  Each  section  may  then  be  sub- 
divided into  smaller  groups,  i,  2,  3,  4.  The  groups 
should  represent  at  least  a  rough  grading  of  abilities, 
group  i  consisting  of  the  best  readers,  and  group  4  of 
those  to  whom  the  wind  must  be  somewhat  carefully 
tempered.  Section  A  may  have  as  special  reading  days 
Mondays  and  Wednesdays,  section  B,  Tuesdays  and 
Thursdays,  Fridays  being  set  aside  as  general  clearance 
days  for  both  sections.  With  the  readings  arranged  in 
groups,  each  pupil  will  look  for  his  group  number,  and, 
knowing  his  section,  A  or  B,  will  know  when  he  is  to 
do  his  reading.  Where  there  are  regular  study  hours 
during  the  school  day,  these  should,  so  far  as  possible,, 
be  used  for  the  reading.  Where  there  are  no  such  study 


342  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

hours,  provision  must  be  made  for  taking  books  home 
on  reading  days,  and  this,  with  a  small  library,  may 
necessitate  further  divisions  of  the  class.  A  good  test 
of  the  degree  of  interest  aroused  will  often  be  furnished 
by  the  calls  for  material  on  clearance  days. 

References  thus  assigned  in  any  field  should,  while 
the  field  is  new,  designate  definite  pages  and  often  speci- 
fied passages  definitely  marked  in  the  books,  but  some 
independent  searching  for  material  should  from  the 
outset  be  encouraged.  Where  the  library  equipment  is 
sufficient,  there  should  usually  be  for  each  group  three 
or  four  different  references  illustrative  of  different 
kinds  of  material,  with  instructions  to  the  pupil  to  read 
the  first  and  one  or  more  of  the  others.  The  independent 
search  for  material  should  at  first  be  confined  to  the 
books  included  in  the  regular  list  of  readings.  The 
simplest  arrangement  is  to  set  for  the  entire  class  some 
one  question  the  answer  to  which  is  to  be  found  some- 
where in  the  books  of  each  group.  After  the  pupils 
have  acquired  some  facility  in  the  use  of  indexes  and 
tables  of  contents  the  references  may  omit  pages  and 
simply  suggest  topics  to  be  found  in  one  or  more  of 
the  assigned  books.  Still  later,  topics  may  be  included 
without  reference  to  any  specified  material,  the  pupils 
being  left  to  find  both  the  book  and  the  place  in  the 
book. 


COLLATERAL  READING  343 

Beginning  with  the  seventh  grade  each  pupil  should  be 
required  to  keep  a  record  of  his  reading.  He  should 
note  at  least : 

1.  Full  name  of  the  author. 

2.  Full  title  of  the  work. 

3.  Number  of  volumes,  publisher,  place  and  date  of 
publication. 

4.  Number  of  pages  read. 

5.  Personal  impression. 

Under  personal  impression  the  pupil  should  enter 
passages  that  make  a  special  appeal,  statements  that 
differ  from  those  of  the  text  or  from  statements  made 
in  class,  questions  raised  by  the  reading  which  he  would 
like  to  know  more  about,  and  any  other  matter  of  direct 
personal  interest.  Often  the  only  entry  to  be  expected 
will  be  "interesting,"  or  "dry,"  "I  don't  like  this 
book,"  or  "I  like  it  very  much."  The  important  point 
is  to  get  an  honest  entry.  Such  a  record  is  of  value 
both  to  the  pupil  and  the  teacher.  It  furnishes  a  fairly 
clear  indication  of  what  is  suitable  at  different  stages, 
of  the  steps  in  the  development  of  the  ability  to  read, 
and  of  taste  for  reading. 

What  pupils  can  read,  what  they  will  read,  and  how 
much,  are  questions  to  be  answered  by  experiment.  A 
teacher  feeling  his  way  may  begin  with  selections  sug- 
gested by  the  textbook.  If  these  are  of  different  types 


344  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

—  standard  historical  works,  sources,  and  books  pre- 
pared especially  for  children  —  he  may  include  in  each 
group  one  example  of  each  and  require  the  class  to  read 
something  from  each.  A  seventh  grade  may,  for  ex- 
ample, be  given  the  following  assignments  on  the  Pil- 
grims: 

1.  Eggleston,  Beginners  of  a  Nation,  159-181. 
Higginson,  American  Explorers,  311-337. 
Gordy,  Leaders  and  Heroes,  64-79. 

2.  Scribner's  Popular  History,  I,  385-399. 
Higginson,  American  Explorers,  311-337. 
Wright,  Stories  of  American  History,  300-315. 

3.  Fiske,  Beginnings  of  New  England,  73-86. 
Higginson,  American  Explorers,  311-337. 
Coffin,  Old  Times  in  the  Colonies,  111-126. 

4.  Higginson,  Larger  History,  153-158. 
Higginson,  American  Explorers,  311-337. 
Dodge,  Stories  of  American  History,  18-25. 

Special  question  for  all:  Why  did  the  Pilgrims  leave 
Holland? 

The  first  discussion  of  such  readings  should  deal  with 
the  personal  impressions  of  pupils.  If  the  teacher 
learns,  as  is  likely  to  be  the  case,  that  a  seventh  grade 
cannot  understand  Eggleston,  and  that  this  reference  is 
reported  by  all  of  the  first  group  as  "very  hard,"  he  will 
find  it  illuminating  to  analyze  the  work  with  a  view  to 
discovering  why  it  is  hard.  If  he  learns  that  Higgin- 


COLLATERAL    READING  345 

son's  American  Explorers  is  the  most  popular  book  on 
the  list  and  that  one  of  the  children's  books  is  con- 
demned because  "it  is  so  preachy,"  he  will  again  find  it 
illuminating  to  examine  with  special  care  the  material. 
In  this  way  any  teacher  of  ordinary  industry  will  in 
time  learn  definitely  what  is  most  suitable  and  least 
suitable. 

Beyond  the  pupil's  personal  impression  little  should 
at  first  be  reported  in  class,  except  in  the  case  of  read- 
ings assigned  specifically  for  information.  One  cardinal 
mistake  of  many  teachers  is  practically  to  limit  readings 
to  information,  or  at  least  to  treat  all  readings  as  if 
information  concerning  the  subject  matter  constituted 
the  one  important  consideration.  There  must  be  read- 
ings for  information.  The  emphasis  laid  upon  facts  is 
entirely  deserved.  But  the  greater  part  of  the  reading 
ought  to  be  for  inspiration,  for  the  cultivation  of  tastes, 
for  insight,  and  for  the  formation  of  habits.  Facts, 
after  all,  come  and  go.  Tastes,  insight,  and  habits 
remain. 

Having  determined  as  definitely  as  possible  the  uses 
to  be  made  of  a  library,  the  teacher  is  prepared  to  in- 
quire what  kind  of  library  is  necessary.  Where  the 
money  allowance  is  small,  an  initial  error  is  often  com- 
mitted in  the  selection  of  material.  With  only  $5  or  $10 
available,  the  common  procedure  is  to  buy  textbooks, 


346  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

or  other  brief  general  treatises,  and  inexpensive  source 
books.  In  this  way  the  entire  field  is  covered,  but  the 
outside  reading  made  possible  on  any  particular  topic  is 
necessarily  meager.  The  principle  in  such  cases  is  first 
to  buy  a  library  and  then  to  see  what  can  be  done  with 
it.  A  better  principle  for  teachers  with  slender  re- 
sources would  be  to  determine  first  what  topics  are  in 
special  need  of  elaboration,  what  kinds  of  inspiration, 
what  kinds  of  historical  literature,  and  what  kinds  of 
illustration  of  the  historical  method  are  most  desirable, 
and  then  fit  the  library  to  meet  the  conditions.  The 
teacher  is  justified  in  beginning  with  topics  about  which 
he  happens  to  know  something,  or,  if  he  is  equally  in- 
formed on  all  topics,  in  beginning  with  a  few  of  special 
current  interest.  One  of,  these  is,  let  us  say,  the  Monroe 
Doctrine.  With  an  appropriation  of  five  cents  the 
teacher  can  secure  Old  South  Leaflet  No.  56,  containing 
Monroe's  message  and  comments  by  historians.  For 
ten  cents  more,  American  History  Leaflet  No.  4  can  be 
added.  This  contains  extracts  from  documents  embody- 
ing the  doctrine,  1789-1901.  For  $1.25  more,  Oilman's 
Monroe  can  be  added.  With  a  total  appropriation  of 
$10  or  $12,  the  teacher  can,  on  this  principle,  collect 
materials  on  half  a  dozen  special  topics  in  American 
history,  superior  to  the  materials  furnished  even  by 
detailed  histories,  or,  with  the  same  appropriation,  can 


COLLATERAL   READING  347 

collect  really  illuminating  materials  on  special  topics 
ranging  over  the  entire  field  of  the  history  course. 

Where  the  resources  are  less  limited,  the  teacher  may 
begin  with  a  consideration  of  the  elements  that  should 
be  present  in  a  general  historical  collection.  He  wishes, 
let  us  say,  to  have  typical  examples  of  the  different  kinds 
of  historical  material.  Still  selecting  to  some  extent  with 
reference  to  special  topics,  he  decides  that  there  should 
be:  i.  Bibliography;  2.  Historical  geography;  3.  Local 
history;  4.  Standard  comprehensive  histories ;  5.  Some 
special  treatises  on,  special  topics  or  on  limited  periods ; 
6.  Biography;  7.  Sources,  including  collections  of  extracts 
and  some  fuller  works,  especially  diaries,  reminiscences, 
autobiographies,  and  letters.  For  the  selection  of  ma- 
terials of  all  the  kinds  here  indicated,  and  for  others, 
there  is  a  serviceable  annotated  guide  which  can  be 
purchased  for  sixty  cents  :  Andrews,  Gambrill,  and  Tall, 
A  Bibliography  of  History  for  Schools  and  Libraries. 
Twenty-five  dollars,  it  may  be  added,  is  sufficient  to 
secure  some  representation  of  all  the  kinds  of  material 
named,  including  both  European  and  American  history. 

The  principle  of  building  up  a  library  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  predetermined  needs,  whether  applied  in 
either  of  the  ways  suggested,  or  in  some  other  way, 
emphasizes  early  in  the  course  of  selection  the  need  of 
duplicating  materials.  The  common  plan  of  buying  as 


348  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

many  different  works  as  possible  is  of  doubtful  value 
to  any  average  school.  It  is  better,  in  making  addi- 
tions to  a  small  library,  to  buy  six  copies  of  one  really 
serviceable  work  than  to  buy  six  different  works.  In 
a  library  of  any  considerable  size,  500  volumes  or 
more,  there  should  be  several  duplicate  sets  even  of 
the  more  cbmprehensive  histories,  in  the  field  of  Amer- 
ican history,  for  example,  at  least  three  or  four  sets 
of  Schouler,  Henry  Adams,  McMaster,  and  Rhodes. 
Only  the  largest  libraries  can  afford  the  indulgence  of 
extending  their  lists  of  different  titles  as  far  as  possible. 
A  small  library  selected  for  definite  use  and  used 
definitely  is  the  best  argument  for  securing  from  school 
boards  additional  funds.  Teachers  of  history  have  in 
the  past  been  too  modest.  They  have  accepted  too 
philosophically  a  condition  which  stocks  the  depart- 
ments of  biology,  chemistry,  and  physics  with  expen- 
sive apparatus  and  leaves  the  history  shelves  absurdly 
inadequate.  They  have  been  reconciled  too  easily  to 
textbook  instruction.  The  fault  is  in  large  part  their 
own.  They  have  failed  to  realize  the  needs  and  possi- 
bilities of  collateral  reading,  and  have,  in  consequence, 
allowed  a  tradition  to  develop  which  is  now  often  a 
serious  obstacle  even  to  the  most  competent  teachers. 
But  it  is  never  too  late  to  struggle  against  a  bad  tradi- 
tion. Most  teachers  of  history  now  look  upon  a  library 


COLLATERAL   READING  349 

as  indispensable.  It  remains  to  convince  many  school 
administrators  that  a  library  is  indispensable.  The 
general  mode  of  attack  is  clear.  It  is  to  use  the  little 
material  that  may  be  available  so  effectively  that  appeals 
for  more  can  be  based  upon  concrete  results. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SCHOOL  HISTORY  AND  THE  HISTORICAL  METHOD 

To  most  teachers,  most  of  the  time,  history  for  school 
purposes  presents  itself  as  a  body  of  assured  knowledge, 
selected  portions  of  which  are  to  be  interpreted,  learned, 
and,  so  far  as  possible,  applied  to  life  in  the  present. 
Some  teachers  seem  to  believe  that  history  may  literally 
set  forth  the  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  For  this 
there  is  distinguished  precedent.  Eighteenth  century 
Johnson,  according  to  Macaulay,  with  a  touch  of  the 
literary  critic's  contempt  for  historians,  put  the  case 
very  simply.  "The  historian  tells  either  what,  is  false 
or  what  is  true :  in  the  former  case  he  is  no  historian : 
in  the  latter  he  has  no  opportunity  for  displaying  his 
abilities:  for  truth  is  one:  and  all  who  tell  the  truth 
must  tell  it  alike."  l  In  a  vein  not  altogether  different 
it  is  related  of  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  nineteenth  century 
critical  historian,  that  one  day  when  he  was  lecturing 
and  his  students  broke  into  applause,  he  stopped 
them  with  the  remark,  "Do  not  applaud  me,  it  is 

1  Macaulay,  Essays,  three- volume  edition,  I,  276. 
350 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL  METHOD      351 

not   I   who  address   you ;    it  is   history   which   speaks 
through  me."  l 

That  there  is  a  residuum  of  assured  historical  knowl- 
edge is  not  to  be  denied.  Without  it  history  could  have 
little  claim  to  differentiation  from  fiction.  The  residuum 
is  in  fact  so  large  that  the  idea  of  drawing  exclusively 
upon  it  for  school  purposes  may  seem  entirely  feasible. 
In  practice  that  idea  has,  however,  not  been  realized. 
If  many  of  the  textbooks  and  some  of  the  popular  his- 
tories used  in  school  convey  a  different  impression,  if 
they  are  in  general  pervaded  by  an  atmosphere  of  un- 
disputed verity,  the  effect  is,  in  large  part,  achieved  by 
the  arbitrary  device  of  elevating  opinions  based  upon 
incomplete  evidence  to  the  rank  of  clearly  established 
truth.  It  is  by  means  of  this  device  that  some  of  the 
most  familiar  personages,  conditions,  and  events  have, 
for  school  purposes,  been  withdrawn  from  the  realm  of 
controversy.  Take  the  case  of  Columbus.  In  a  well- 
known  and  deservedly  popular  textbook  we  read : 

Christopher  Columbus,  the  great  discoverer,  was  born  in 
Genoa,  Italy,  about  1436.  He  spent  most  of  his  early  life  at 
sea,  and  became  an  experienced  navigator.  He  was  a  man  who 
read  widely,  and  intelligently.  When  on  shore,  his  trade  was 
the  designing  and  making  of  maps.  This  occupation  led  him 
to  think  much  about  the  shape  of  the  earth,  and  he  came  to  agree 

1  Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  St.  Louis,  1904,  n,  158. 


352  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

with  those  men*who  held  that  the  earth  is  round  like  a  globe. 
This  belief  led  him  to  conclude  that  Asia  could  be  reached  by 
sailing  westward  and  that  a  new  route  to  India  could  be  opened. 

The  account  is  accompanied  by  a  portrait,  labeled 
"Christopher  Columbus." 

The  facts  sum  up  in  a  typical  manner  the  Columbus 
of  our  elementary  schools,  and,  as  here  presented,  make 
a  very  simple  and  reasonable  kind  of  history.  It  is 
interesting  to  know  how  Columbus  looked,  where  he 
came  from,  and  how  he  made  up  his  mind  that  India 
could  be  reached  by  sailing  westward.  But  is  the 
assurance  warranted?  A  larger  and  more  critical  his- 
tory informs  us  that  while  a  number  of  portraits  exist 
with  claims  to  the  honor  of  representing  Columbus, 
"there  is  no  likeness  whose  claim  is  indisputable."1 
Concerning  the  date  of  birth  and  the  genesis  of  the 
ideas  that  led  to  the  discovery  of  America  another 
critical  historian  writes : 

Christopher  Columbus  was  born  at  some  time  between  1430 
and  1456,  the  precise  date  of  this  event  being  of  slight  importance 
nowadays,  save  to  him  who  seeks  to  conjure  up  a  picture  of  the 
great  seaman  as  he  paced  the  deck  of  his  flagship  off  San  Salvador 
on  that  pregnant  October  night  in  1492.  Henry  Harisse  and 
Justin  Winsor  unite  in  giving  the  date  as  1446-47,  and  when  these 
two  agree  one  may  as  well  follow  them  without  more  ado.  Eight- 
een places  claim  Columbus  as  a  native,  but  scholars  unite  in  giving 
that  honor  to  Genoa  or  its  immediate  vicinity.  At  an  early  age 

1  Winsor,  America,  II,  69. 


SCHOOL  HISTORY  AND  THE   HISTORICAL  METHOD       353 

he  shipped  on  his  first  voyage,  and  kept  on  sailing  the  seas  until, 
some  years  later,  he  found  himself  in  Portugal,  the  fifteenth 
century  meeting  place  of  adventurous  and  scientific  seamen. 

Exactly  how  or  when  Columbus  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the 
shape  of  the  earth,  the  feasibility  of  sailing  westward  to  India, 
and  determined  to  do  it,  is  not  clear.  Ferdinand  Columbus,  for 
instance,  tells  us  that  the  admiral  was  influenced  by  the  works 
of  Arab  astronomers  and  by  Ptolemy  and  the  ancients.  But 
whether  this  should  be  taken  in  more  than  a  general  sense  may 
be  doubted.  Another  theory  is  that  Columbus,  studying  the 
Imago  Mundi  of  Pierre  D'Ailly,  Bishop  of  Cambray,  came  across 
the  old  ideas  which  that  compiler  had  borrowed  from  Roger 
Bacon.  The  first  printed  copy  of  the  Imago  Mundi  was  made  at 
Louvain  not  before  1480 ;  but  Columbus  thought  that  the  earth 
was  round  before  that  time  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever 
read  the  Bishop  of  Cambray's  work  in  manuscript.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  report  of  his  third  voyage  (1498)  he  quoted  a  sentence 
from  this  book,  and  there  still  exists  a  copy  of  it  with  marginal 
notes  in  his  handwriting,  or  in  that  of  his  brother,  Bartholomew, 
for  the  writing  of  the  two  was  much  alike.  But  none  of  these 
things  proves  that  he  had  read  the  work  in  manuscript,  nor  is 
there  reason  to  suppose  that  the  theories  of  the  ancients  had 
much,  if  any,  direct  influence  upon  him.  If  he  had  known  of  the 
Bishop  of  Cambray's  book  before  1492,  it  is  most  probable  that 
he  would  have  used  it  as  an  authority  to  reinforce  his  ideas ;  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  did  this.  Another  way  to  account  for 
Columbus's  opinions  is  to  attribute  great  influence  to  the  letters  of 
Paolo  dal  Pozzo  Toscanelli  of  Florence.  Sir  Clements  R.  Markham 
even  goes  so  far  as  to  print  them  as  the  "sailing  directions  of 
Columbus."  A  more  recent  writer,  Henry  Vignaud,  has  gone  to 
the  other  extreme  and  has  denied  that  such  letters  ever  existed.1 

1  Channing,  History  of  the  United  States,  I,  14-15. 

2A 


354  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Many  teachers  who  habitually  treat  history  in  school 
as  assured  knowledge  are,  of  course,  aware  of  doubts 
lurking  behind,  not  only  individual  facts,  but  behind 
the  selection  and  organization  of  facts.  They  know 
that  individual  facts,  even  when  true,  may  yet  in  combi- 
nation fail  to  convey  the  truth.  They  agree  with  Ma- 
caulay  that  one  writer  may  even  tell  less  truth  than 
another  by  telling  more  truths.  But  school  conditions 
seem  to  them  to  render  dogmatism  both  necessary  and 
desirable.  There  is,  in  the  first  place,  the  question  of 
what  is  possible.  History  of  the  kind  in  which  an 
author  writes  as  if  he  really  knows  presents  difficulties. 
History  of  the  kind  in  which  an  author  writes  as  if  nobody 
really  knows  introduces  complications  which  many 
teachers  consider  unsuitable  for  children,  beyond  their 
range  of  interests,  and  confusing,  even  to  the  average 
adult.  To  be  told  in  substance,  that  there  was  once  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Christopher  Columbus  who  made 
up  his  mind  that  India  could  be  reached  by  sailing  west- 
ward, and  that  considerable  energy,  most  of  it  vain,  has 
been  expended  in  trying  to  find  out  when  and  where 
he  was  born  and  how  he  reached  his  epoch-making  con- 
clusion may  be  satisfying  to  historical  experts ;  it  neither 
can  nor  ought  to  be  satisfying  to  others.  Both  for  chil- 
dren and  for  the  general  reading  public,  history,  to  be 
read  at  all,  must  be  something  definite  to  believe  about 


SCHOOL  HISTORY  AND   THE   HISTORICAL  METHOD       355 

the  past  and  not  something  to  be  doubted  or  argued 
about.  If  there  are  controversies,  they  must,  therefore, 
be  forcibly  suppressed. 

There  are,  in  the  second  place,  uses  of  history  to 
which,  it  is  often  urged,  the  subject  must  at  any  cost 
be  subordinated.  Balanced  opinions,  and  arguments 
that  lead  chiefly  to  doubt,  are,  even  if  manageable, 
at  best  uninspiring  and  at  worst  positively  harmful 
to  childhood  and  youth.  They  are,  therefore,  to  be 
avoided,  and  even  resented.  "There  is  a  certain  med- 
dlesome spirit,"  says  Washington  Irving,  at  the  end 
of  his  account  of"  the  early  years  of  Columbus  and  of 
the  origin  of  the  idea  of  a  western  voyage,  "which,  in 
the  garb  of  learned  research,  goes  prying  about  the 
traces  of  history,  casting  down  its  monuments,  and  mar- 
ring and  mutilating  its  fairest  trophies.  Care  should 
be  taken  to  vindicate  great  names  from  such  pernicious 
erudition.  It  defeats  one  of  the  most  salutary  purposes 
of  history,  that  of  furnishing  examples  of  what  human 
genius  and  laudable  enterprise  may  accomplish." 1 
Many  teachers  find  in  the  "salutary  purposes  of  his- 
tory" a  justification  for  eliminating  controversy. 

There  is,  in  the  third  place,  a  feeling  that  such  exag- 
geration of  historical  probability  as  may  result  from  a 
dogmatic  treatment  need  excite  no  special  concern. 

1  Columbus,  Book  I,  end  of  Chapter  V. 


356  TEACHING   OF    HISTORY 

School  history,  it  is  argued,  is  in  most  cases  destined  to 
an  early  oblivion,  and  if,  in  some  cases,  remnants  do  sur- 
vive, it  is  at  worst  better  to  go  through  life  with  a  few 
definite  errors  than  to  think  of  history  as  something 
that  might  have  been  either  this  or  that,  and  was  prob- 
ably neither.  "  It's  all  in  confidence,"  says  a  delight- 
ful essayist,  protesting,  on  behalf  of  the  "  Gentle  Reader," 
against  the  ways  of  the  critical  historian,  "speak  out 
as  one  gentleman  to  another  under  a  friendly  roof! 
What  do  you  think  about  it  ?  No  matter  if  you  make  a 
mistake  or  two,  I'll  forget  most  that  you  say  anyway."  l 

Shall  doubts,  then,  be  suppressed?  Shall  mere  per- 
sonal opinions,  mere  guesses,  and  sometimes  mere 
fancies  be  combined  on  terms  of  complete  equality  with 
indisputable  facts?  Shall  the  study  of  history  concern 
itself  only  with  the  meaning  of  an  author  ?  Shall  there  be 
no  distinction  between  his  story,  with  the  emphasis  upon 
the  his,  and  history  ?  In  the  opinion  of  a  growing  minor- 
ity of  history  teachers,  both  in  Europe  and  in  America, 
to  ask  such  questions  is  in  effect  to  ask  whether  the  school 
view  of  history  shall  be  intelligent  or  unintelligent. 

The  history  learned  in  school  unquestionably  makes 
its  heaviest  contribution  to  oblivion.  But  there  are 
some  results  which  endure.  The  treatment  of  history 
as  assured  knowledge  prepares  for  the  treatment  of  his- 

1  Crothers,  Gentle  Reader,  173. 


SCHOOL  HISTORY  AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD       357 

tory  as  assured  knowledge.  The  tendency  of  pupils 
accustomed  in  school  to  accept  facts  as  facts  without 
discrimination  is  to  continue  in  after  life  to  accept  and 
to  use  facts  without  discrimination.  The  tendency  of 
pupils  accustomed  in  school  to  look  upon  the  printed 
page  itself  as  evidence  of  the  truth  of  what  is  printed  is 
to  continue  in  after  life  in  subjection  to  the  tyranny  of 
the  printed  page.  So  natural  and  so  strong  are  these 
tendencies  that  they  sometimes  persist  even  after 
university  courses  in  history.  It  was  a  graduate  stu- 
dent who,  some  years  ago,  asked  a  professor  of  history 
whether,  if  Lincoln  had  lived,  there  would  have  been  any 
conflict  between  the  President  and  Congress,  and  who, 
on  receiving  in  answer  a  qualified  affirmative,  asked  to 
have  authorities  cited  in  exactly  the  same  spirit  as  if  the 
question  had  been,  "When  did  Lincoln  die  ?  "  All  efforts 
to  show  the  difference  between  finding  out  what  actually 
was  and  finding  out  what  might  have  been  if  something 
that  was  had  been  different  proved  unavailing.  The 
student  returned  the  next  day  with  a  look  of  triumph. 
"I  thought,"  said  he,  "that  you  must  be  wrong  about 
Lincoln,"  and  read  from  a  popular  history  an  extract 
to  the  effect  that  Lincoln  would  have  had  no  trouble 
in  carrying  through  Congress  the  reconstruction  policy 
which  in  the  hands  of  Andrew  Johnson  met  with  disas- 
trous defeat. 


358  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

There  are  degrees  of  probability  even  in  the  history 
that  might  have  been.  The  case  for  Lincoln  is  no 
doubt  better  than  many  other  similar  cases.  Between 
information  supplied  by  schoolboys  gravely  .debating 
what  would  have  happened  if  George  Washington  had 
never  been  born  and  information  supplied  by  states- 
men gravely  debating  what  George  Washington  would 
have  done  with  the  Philippines  there  is  no  doubt  a 
reasonable  choice.  But  speculations  on  what  might 
have  been  are  in  all  cases  speculation.  They  are  so 
common  and  so  easy  to  detect  that  the  most  casual 
reader  might  be  expected  to  place  them  in  a  class  apart 
at  least  from  the  history  alleged  to  have  actually  hap- 
pened. Children  in  the  grades  can  grasp  the  distinc- 
tion when  attention  is  called  to  it.  The  fact,  established 
by  repeated  tests,  that  neither  children  in  the  grades 
nor  casual  readers,  to  go  no  farther,  ordinarily  think  even 
of  this  simple  distinction  renders  unnecessary  any  illus- 
tration of  their  general  attitude  toward  more  subtle 
distinctions. 

The  desirability  of  discrimination  in  dealing  with 
historical  data  is  too  apparent  for  argument.  Not  all 
of  us  read  histories,  but  all  of  us  begin  with  the  first 
dawning  of  intelligence  to  use  facts  known  to  us  his- 
torically and  not  directly.  It  is  a  commonplace  that 
most  of  our  conversation  is  narrative  and  historical, 


SCHOOL  HISTORY  AND   THE  HISTORICAL   METHOD       359 

whether  the  subject  be  what  we,  our  friends,  or  some 
other  person,  said  or  did  this  morning,  or  what  was 
said  or  done  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  years  ago.  It 
is  a  commonplace  that  data  historical  in  character 
enter  into  most  of  the  thinking  and  planning  of  life 
from  childhood  to  the  grave.  It  ought  to  be  a  common- 
place that  schoolroom  history  should  give  the  pupil 
some  consciousness  of  what  historical  knowledge  is  and 
some  training  in  the  method  by  which  historical  knowl- 
edge is  established.  It  ought  to  be  a  commonplace 
that  there  are  "salutary  purposes"  to  be  served  by  his- 
tory as  a  process  of  determining,  selecting,  and  arrang- 
ing facts,  not  less  important  than  those  to  be  served  by 
history  as  the  organized  result. 

Training  in  the  historical  method  of  study  is  a  some- 
what formidable  expression  difficult  to  dissociate  from 
university  work.  But  the  teacher  must  not  be  fright- 
ened by  what  may  appear  to  be  pretentious  termi- 
nology. We  speak  of  history  in  the  elementary  school 
and  history  in  the  university,  without  prejudice  to 
either.  It  is  convenient,  and  it  ought  to  be  possible, 
to  speak  of  the  historical  method  in  both,  without 
prejudice  to  either.  Certainly  the  processes  thus  de- 
scribed —  the  search  for  material,  the  classification 
and  criticism  of  material,  the  determination  of  particu- 
lar facts,  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  facts  —  pre- 


360  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

sent  elementary  aspects.  A  first  grade  can  be  led  to 
see  that  something  is  learned  about  the  Indians  from 
things  dug  up  out  of  the  ground,  something  from  writings 
of  white  men  who  reported  what  they  saw,  and  some- 
thing from  stories  told  by  Indians  about  themselves 
and  later  reported  by  white  men.  First-grade  children 
will  themselves  often  suggest  that  the  Indians  did  not 
write  books.  A  fourth  grade  can  be  led  to  think  of 
different  ways  of  knowing  about  people,  and  of  the 
relative  merits  of  the  different  ways  of  knowing  about 
them.  A  sixth  grade  can  be  taught  the  use  of  indexes 
and  tables  of  contents  and  something  of  the  significance 
of  references  to  authorities.  A  seventh  grade  can  be 
led  to  solve  some  simple  problems  in  criticism.  From 
the  first,  there  can  be  exercises  in  putting  facts  together, 
and,  above  the  seventh  grade,  exercises  involving  essen- 
tial aspects  of  the  historical  method  of  study  from  the 
search  for  material  to  the  organization  and  exposition 
of  results. 

Those  who  are  aware  of  the  possibilities  have  some- 
times gone  the  length  of  declaring  that  history,  as  early 
at  least  as  the  high  school,  should  be  habitually,  and 
almost  exclusively,  presented  as  a  process  of  -establish- 
ing, selecting,  and  organizing  facts.  This  is  the  "source 
method"  in  its  extreme  form.  The  more  conservative 
view,  and  the  one  here  adopted,  is  that  the  greater  part 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      361 

of  school  history  must  be  presented  as  ready-made 
information,  but  that  there  should  be  illustrations  of  the 
historical  method  sufficient  to  indicate  the  general 
nature  of  the  problems  behind  organized  history,  and 
sufficient  to  give  some  definite  training  hi  the  solution 
of  such  problems.  How  shall  this  be  accomplished? 

Here,  let  us  say,  is  a  teacher  of  a  fourth  or  a  fifth 
grade  who  is  called  upon  by  the  course  of  study  to  dis- 
cuss with  her  class  some  of  the  peoples  of  antiquity. 
She  has  discovered  that  for  certain  subjects  Herodotus 
seems  to  be  a  mine  of  information,  and  that  somehow 
he  has  mastered  the  art  of  telling  a  story  so  as  to  be 
interesting  even  in  a  translation.  He  is  to  be  used 
mainly  for  information,  but  the  teacher  believes  that  the 
children's  interest  will  not  be  lessened  by  raising  here 
and  there  the  question  of  how  Herodotus  gathered  his 
information.  The  rdle  of  father  of  history,  which  he 
has  played  so  long,  lends,  it  may  be,  a  peculiar  sense  of 
fitness  to  the  idea  of  raising  the  question  first  with  him. 
She  begins  with  a  few  preliminary  questions :  What 
people  are  there  in  the  world  besides  Americans  ?  How 
do  you  know?  Who  are  the  oldest  people  in  the  world? 

On  one  occasion  a  girl  knew  that  there  were  Germans 
in  the  world  because  she  had  heard  her  mother  speak  of 
a  German  woman.  The  teacher  wrote  on  the  black- 
board :  "We  may  know  of  people  by  hearing  about 


362  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

them."  A  boy  knew  that  there  were  Indians  in  the 
world  because  he  had  read  about  them  in  a  book.  The 
teacher  wrote:  "We  may  know  of  people  by  reading 
about  them."  Another  boy  knew  that  there  were 
Chinamen  in  the  world  because  he  had  seen  a  Chinaman. 
He  spoke  with  an  air  of  conviction  that  seemed  to  ex- 
press disapproval  of  hearsay  or  books  as  evidence,  and 
a  new  look  of  intelligence  swept  over  the  class.  They 
had  all  seen  a  Chinaman.  The  teacher  wrote :  "We 
may  know  of  people  by  seeing  them."  Before  this 
last  statement  had  been  put  on  the  board  the  children 
were  discussing  the  relative  merits  of  the  three  ways 
that  had  been  suggested  of  knowing  about  people.  It 
was  unanimously  agreed  that  the  Indians  were  the 
oldest  people  in  the  world,  on  the  ground,  as  one  mem- 
ber of  the  class  put  it,  that  "they  are  the  first  people  we 
read  about  in  school."  This  was  the  crudest  piece  of 
reasoning  developed  during  the  lesson.  The  children 
were  told  that  the  question  was  one  which  appeared  to 
have  been  raised  a  long  time  ago  in  Egypt,  for  a  traveler 
who  went  there  has  told  us  a  story  about  it.  A  line  was 
drawn  on  the  blackboard  to  represent  ten  years,  the 
average  age  of  the  pupils.  With  this  as  a  unit  the  line 
was  continued  to  represent  a  century.  It  was  then 
extended  century  by  century  across  the  blackboard  of 
three  sides  of  the  room  until  the  twenty-five  centuries 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      363 

back  to  Herodotus  had  been  measured.  In  this  way  the 
children  were  at  least  made  conscious  that  Herodotus 
lived  a  very  long  time  ago.  They  had  already  heard 
of  Egypt  and  had  formed  some  impression  of  where 
Egypt  is.  The  story  as  told  by  Herodotus  was  then 
read. 

The  Egyptians  before  the  reign  of  their  king  Psammetichus 
believed  themselves  to  be  the  oldest  of  mankind,  Psammetichus, 
however,  wished  to  find  out  if  this  was  true.  So  he  took  two 
children  of  the  common  sort  and  gave  them  over  to  a  herdsman 
to  bring  up,  charging  him  to  let  no  one  speak  a  word  in  their 
presence,  but  to  keep  them  in  a  cottage  by  themselves,  and  take 
to  them  food  and  look  after  them  in  other  respects.  His  object 
herein  was  to  know,  after  the  first  babblings  of  infancy  were  over, 
what  word  they  would  speak  first.  The  herdsman  did  as  he  was 
told  for  two  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  on  his  opening  the 
door  of  their  room  and  going  in,  the  children  both  ran  up  to  him 
with  outstretched  arms  and  called,  "  Becos."  When  this  first 
happened,  the  herdsman  took  no  notice ;  but  afterwards  when  he 
observed  on  coming  often  to  see  them  that  the  word  was  con- 
stantly in  their  mouths,  he  told  the  King  and  by  his  command 
brought  the  children  into  the  King's  presence.  Psammetichus 
himself  then  heard  them  say  the  word,  upon  which  he  proceeded 
to  ask  what  people  there  were  who  had  anything  they  called 
"  Becos."  Hereupon  he  learned  that  Becos  was  the  Phrygian  word 
for  bread.  The  Egyptians  then  gave  up  claiming  that  they  were 
the  oldest  people  in  the  world  and  agreed  that  the  Phrygians  were 
older  than  they. 

Children,  even  in  a  fourth  grade,  will  readily  antici- 
pate the  later  steps  in  this  story,  if  given  the  opportunity. 


364  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

In  a  fifth  or  sixth  grade  they  are  almost  sure  to  raise 
on  their  own  motion  objections  to  the  conclusion  which 
the  Egyptians  are  alleged  to  have  drawn  from  the 
experiment.  Discussion  is  almost  sure  to  lead  some  one 
to  suggest  that  the  story  is  probably  not  true,  and  to  ask 
if  Herodotus  really  thought  it  was  true,  or  expected 
anybody  else  to  think  so.  This  raises  naturally  the 
question  of  where  Herodotus  got  the  story  anyway. 
The  reading  is  resumed : 

That  these  were  the  real  facts,  I  learned  at  Memphis  from 
the  priests  of  Vulcan.  The  Greeks  told  other  stories  of  how  the 
children  were  brought  up,  but  the  priests  said  that  the  bringing 
up  was  as  I  have  stated  it.  I  got  much  other  information  from 
conversation  with  these  priests  while  I  was  at  Memphis  and  I 
even  went  to  Heliopolis  and  to  Thebes  expressly  to  try  whether 
the  priests  of  those  places  would  agree  in  their  accounts  with  the 
priests  at  Memphis.1 

The  children  thus  see  at  once  that  Herodotus  knew  of 
the  experiment  credited  to  Psammetichus  only  through 
"hearing  about  it."  With  this  introduction  children  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  allowed  to  travel  for  some  weeks 
afterward  with  Herodotus  are  found  to  be  more  or  less 
on  the  alert  to  discover  when  he  is  talking  about  things 
that  he  has  really  seen  and  when  he  is  talking  about 
things  that  he  has  merely  heard  or  read.  Work  thus 
begun  with  Herodotus  may  easily  be  extended  so  as  to 
1  Herodotus,  Book  II,  2,  3.  Slightly  adapted. 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL  METHOD      365 

include  along  with  information  about  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  some  impression  of  Thucydides,  Xenophon, 
Plutarch,  Livy,  and  Tacitus. 

For  an  initial  exercise  in  American  history  in  raising 
the  question  of  how  we  know,  the  adventures  of  the 
manuscript  of  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Planta- 
tion furnish  material  of  similar  grade  for  devising  an 
introduction  to  Bradford's  work,  which  may  then  be 
followed  somewhat  after  the  manner  proposed  for  He- 
rodotus. The  story  of  the  manuscript  is  told  in  the  edi- 
tion published  by  the  state  of  Massachusetts  and,  more 
briefly,  in  the  edition  included  in  the  Original  Narratives 
series  published  by  Scribner's  Sons.  Materials  for  ex- 
tending the  work  to  other  writers  of  the  colonial  period 
may  be  found  in  Higginson's  Young  Folks'  Book  of 
American  Explorers. 

When  the  stage  is  reached  at  which  children  begin  to 
use  formal  textbooks,  these  may  serve  as  the  point  of 
departure  for  occasional  illustration  of  how  histories 
are  made.  It  is  the  duty  of  teachers  to  point  out  recog- 
nized errors.  Incidentally  this  may  be  turned  to  ac- 
count in  showing  what  is  really  involved  in  getting  at 
the  truth  about  a  matter  in  history.  In  the  seventh 
grade  the  colonial  period  is  usually  treated  for  the 
first  time  with  some  degree  of  seriousness.  Probably 
no  subject  of  equal  importance  in  that  period  has  been 


366  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

dealt  with  so  carelessly  by  textbook  writers  as  that  of 
colonial  boundaries.  This  subject  is  as  likely  as  any 
to  furnish  ground  in  need  of  being  cleared  up  by  the 
teacher.  It  may  therefore  be  allowed  to  supply  an 
illustration. 

A  well-known  textbook  has  the  following  account  of 
the  boundary  provisions  of  the  charter  of  1606 : 

To  the  London  Company  the  king  granted  the  coast  of  North 
America  about  from  Cape  Fear  to  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac ;  to 
the  Plymouth  Company  he  granted  the  coast  about  from  Long 
Island  to  Nova  Scotia.  These  grants  were  to  go  in  straight  strips, 
or  zones,  across  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the 
Pacific  (for  so  little  was  known  about  North  American  geography 
that  a  good  many  people  believed  the  continent  up  here  to  be  no 
wider  than  in  Mexico).  As  for  the  middle  strip,  starting  from  the 
coast  between  the  Potomac  and  the  Hudson,  it  was  open  to  the 
two  companies,  with  the  understanding  that  neither  was  to  plant 
a  colony  within  100  miles  of  any  settlement  already  begun  by  the 
other.  This  meant  practically  that  it  was  likely  to  be  controlled 
by  whichever  company  should  first  come  into  the  field  with  a 
flourishing  colony.  This  made  it  worth  while  to  act  promptly. 

An  average  seventh  grade  can  read  and  interpret  this 
paragraph.  Several  textbooks  have  maps  showing  the 
parallel  strips  running  across  the  continent.  If  the 
particular  text  in  use  does  not  contain  such  a  map, 
pupils  can  readily  work  one  out  on  the  board  with  the 
assistance  of  the  teacher.  How  did  the  writer  of  this 
paragraph  know  that  the  boundaries  were  as  he  has 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      367 

described  them?  Let  the  class  make  suggestions.  A 
little  discussion  will  prepare  the  way  for  reference  to 
the  charter  itself.  The  charter  may  then  be  studied 
in  the  manner  indicated  in  the  chapter  on  the  use  of 
maps.1 

The  study  will  naturally  conclude  with  a  comparison 
of  the  two  maps.  Can  both  be  right?  Which  is 
wrong?  Compare  with  the  map,  if  there  is  one,  in  the 
textbook  that  may  be  in  the  hands  of  the  class.  It 
should  be  said  that  the  textbook  quoted  has  a  footnote 
explaining  that  the  sea  to  sea  provision  was  added  by 
the  charter  of  1609.  But  even  that  charter  did  not 
provide  for  " straight  strips,  or  zones." 

Whether  a  textbook  is  right  or  wrong  in  the  matter, 
the  difference  between  taking  the  textbook  conclusion 
ready-made  and  taking  our  own  conclusions  worked  out 
from  the  charter  itself  is  the  difference  between  learn- 
ing the  answer  to  a  problem  and  working  the  problem. 
A  single  exercise  of  this  kind,  by  giving  an  impression 
of  the  nature  of  the  problem,  makes  any  later  reference 
to  boundary  questions  in  the  colonies  more  intelligible. 

The  question  asked  of  the  charter  was  merely,  "What 
does  it  mean?"  The  source  was  accepted  as  authori- 
tative. Other  sources  raise  the  further  question,  "  Is  it 
true?"  For  an^exercise  involving  the  latter  a  seventh 

1  See  above,  p.  263. 


368  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

grade  may  be  asked  to  find  out  whether  Pocahontas 
did  or  did  not  save  the  life  of  Captain  John  Smith. 
The  teacher  may  first  read  the  following  extract  from 
Smith's  True  Relation,  an  account  written  in  1607. 

Arriving  at  Weramocomoco,  their  Emperour  proudly  lying 
upon  a  Bedstead  a  foote  high,  upon  tenne  or  twelve  Mattes,  richly 
hung  with  manie  Chaynes  of  great  Pearles  about  his  necke,  and 
covered  with  a  great  Covering  of  Rahaughcums.  At  heade  sat 
a  woman,  at  his  feete  another ;  on  each  side  sitting  uppon  a  Matte 
uppon  the  ground,  were  raunged  his  chiefe  men  on  each  side  the 
fire,  tenne  in  a  ranke,  and  behinde  them  as  many  yong  women, 
each  a  great  Chaine  of  white  Beades  over  their  shoulders,  their 
heades  painted  in  redde :  and  with  such  a  grave  and  Majesticall 
countenance  as  drave  me  into  admiration  to  see  such  state  in  a 
naked  Salvage,  hee  kindly  welcomed  me  with  good  wordes,  and 
great  Platters  of  sundrie  Victuals,  assuring  mee  his  friendship, 
and  my  libertie  within  foure  days.1 

This  may  be  followed  by  Smith's  later  description  of 
the  same  scene,  first  published  in  1624. 

At  last  they  brought  him  to  Meronocomo,  where  was  Pow- 
hatan  their  Emperor.  Here  more  than  two  hundred  of  those  grim 
Courtiers  stood  wondering  at  him,  as  he  had  beene  a  monster; 
till  Powhatan  and  his  trayne  had  put  themselves  in  their  greatest 
braveries.  Before  a  fire  upon  a  seat  like  a  bedstead,  he  sat  covered 
with  a  great  robe,  made  of  Rarowcun  skinnes,  and  all  the  tayles 
hanging  by.  On  either  hand  did  sit  a  young  wench  of  16  or  18 
yeares,  and  along  on  each  side  the  house,  two  rowes  of  men,  and 

1  Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History,  Narratives  of  Early 
Virginia,  48. 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      369 

behind  them  as  many  women,  with  all  their  heads  and  shoulders 
painted  red ;  many  of  their  heads  bedecked  with  the  white  downe 
of  Birds ;  but  everyone  with  something :  and  a  great  chayne  of 
white  beads  about  their  necks.  At  his  entrance  before  the  King, 
all  the  people  gave  a  great  shout.  The  Queene  of  Appamatuck 
was  appointed  to  bring  him  water  to  wash  his  hands,  and  another 
brought  him  a  bunch  of  feathers,  in  stead  of  a  Towell  to  dry  them : 
having  feasted  him  after  their  best  barbarous  manner  they  could, 
a  long  consultation  was  held,  but  the  conclusion  was,  two  great 
stones  were  brought  before  Powhatan :  then  as  many  as  could 
layd  hands  on  him,  dragged  him  to  them,  and  thereon  laid  his  head, 
and  being  ready  with  their  clubs,  to  beate  out  his  braines,  Poca- 
hontas  the  Kings  dearest  daughter,  when  no  intreaty  could  pre- 
vaile,  got  his  head  in.  her  armes,  and  laid  her  owne  upon  his  to 
save  him  from  death :  whereat  the  Emperour  was  contented  he 
should  live  to  make  him  hatchets,  and  her  bells,  beads,  and  copper.1 

•  ^ 

Can  both  accounts  be  true?  The  publisher  of  the 
True  Relation  says  in  the  preface:  "Somewhat  more 
was  by  him  written,  which  being  as  I  thought  (fit  to  be 
private)  I  would  not  adventure  to  make  it  publicke."  2 
Might  this  have  included  the  death  sentence  and  the 
rescue  by  Pocahontas?  Or  might  Smith  have  been 
so  occupied  with  other  matters  when  he  was  writing  in 
1607  that  it  did  not  occur  to  him  to  mention  the  narrow 
escape  from  death?  In  1616  Pocahontas,  then  the  wife 
of  John  Rolfe,  went  to  England,  where  she  attracted 

1  Generall  Historic  of  Virginia,  in  Travels  of  Captaine  John  Smith. 
Glasgow,  1907,  I,  101. 

1  Narratives  of  Early  Virginia,  31. 

2B 


37°  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

much  attention.  Might  Smith  then  have  been  reminded 
that  he  owed  his  life  to  her,  or  did  he  merely  make  up 
the  story  to  attract  attention  to  himself?  Pocahontas 
died  in  1617.  A  story  not  unlike  that  told  by  Smith 
in  1624  had  appeared  in  English  in  1609,  in  a  narrative 
of  the  expedition  of  De  Soto.  Juan  Ortiz  was,  like  Smith, 
captured  by  Indians  and  brought  before  their  chief. 
"By  command  of  Ucita,  Juan  Ortiz  was  bound  hand  and 
foot  to  four  stakes, ....  that  he  might  be  burned ;  but  a 
daughter  of  the  chief  entreated  that  he  might  be  spared. 
Though  one  Christian,  she  said,  might  do  no  good,  cer- 
tainly he  could  do  no  harm,  and  it  would  be  an  honour 
to  have  one  for  a  captive ;  to  which  the  father  acceded, 
directing  the  injuries  to  be  healed."  l  Might  Smith 
have  read  this  story  and  remembered  it  in  rewriting  the 

account  of  his  own  adventures?    His  own  account  of 

v 
how  he  was  saved  by  Pocahontas  is  the  sole  source  of 

information  confirming  the  incident. 

Such  exercises  require  some  skill  in  presentation,  but, 
when  well  managed,  stimulate  thought  and  excite  a  high 
degree  of  interest.  A  sixth  grade,  asked  to  find  out  if 
gunpowder  was  used  at  the  battle  of  Crecy,  became  so 
engrossed  with  the  problem  that  the  teacher,  who  had 
at  first  protested  against  such  work  for  "poor  little 

1  Spanish  Explorers  in  the  Southern  United  States,  Original  Narratives, 
150. 


SCHOOL    HISTORY    AND   THE    HISTORICAL    METHOD      371 

minds,"  a  few  days  later  complained  that  the  same 
"poor  little  minds"  in  their  enthusiasm  for  the  gun- 
powder question  were  neglecting  more  important  work. 
A  seventh  grade  discussing,  the  last  period  of  the  school 
day,  the  evidence  for  the  Pocahontas  story  begged  to 
have  the  period  extended.  The  concession  was  granted 
and  the  discussion  went  on  until  four  o'clock  —  thirty 
minutes  of  voluntary  staying  after  school. 

But  is  there  not  danger  of  making  children  skeptical 
beyond  their  years,  unduly  wise,  and  even  "bumptious  "  ? 
Apparently  not.  The  usual  lesson  which  they  seem  to 
learn  is  that  one  must  work  very  hard  to  find  out  the 
truth  about  the  past.  It  is  besides  not  at  all  necessary 
that  every  look  behind  a  history  should  open  up  a  con- 
troversy. It  is,  in  fact,  desirable  that  some  of  the 
stories  investigated  should  be  found  indisputably  true. 
The  question  of  how  we  know  requires  illustration  of 
what  we  really  know  as  well  as  of  what  we  ought  really 
only  to  suspect  or  openly  to  doubt. 

The  general  distinction  between  primary  and  secon- 
dary sources  is  easily  made.  The  pupil  has  but  to  ask, 
"  Was  the  author  there,  or  did  he  get  his  information  by 
reading  or  by  hearing  about  the  matter?  "  This  directs 
attention  in  a  simple  way  to  the  fact  that  secondary 
writers  now  usually  cite  their  authorities.  Children 
early  show  an  interest  in  knowing  something  about 


372  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

the  authors  of  histories  and  of  their  methods  of  work. 
It  was  a  sixth-grade  girl  who,  after  looking  for  certain 
facts  in  Einhard's  Charlemagne  and  in  Emer ton's  Intro- 
auction  to  the  Middle  Ages,  wanted  to  know  if  Einhard 
and  Emerton  lived  at  the  same  time.  A  seventh  grade 
can  be  introduced  to  some  of  the  mysteries  of  checking 
up  a  secondary  writer.  The  teacher  may  read  from 
Fiske's  Discovery  of  America: 

The  narrative  upon  which  our  account  of  the  Vinland  voyages 
is  chiefly  based  belongs  to  the  class  of  historical  sagas.  It  is  the 
Saga  of  Eric  the  Red,  and  it  exists  in  two  different  versions,  of 
which  one  seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  north,  the  other  in  the 
west  of  Iceland.  The  western  version  is  the  earlier  and  in  some 
respects  the  better.  It  is  found  in  two  vellums,  that  of  the  great 
collection  known  as  Hauksbdk  (AM.  544),  and  that  which  is  simply 
known  as  AM.  557  from  its  catalogue  number.  ...  Of  these  the 
former,  which  is  the  best  preserved,  was  written  in  a  beautiful 
hand  by  Hauk  Erlendsson,  between  1305  and  1334,  the  year  of 
his  death.  This  western  version  is  the  one  which  has  generally 
been  printed  under  the  title,  "  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsemi."  It  is 
the  one  to  which  I  have  most  frequently  referred  in  the  present 
chapter. 

The  northern  version  is  that  which  was  made  about  the  year 
13&7  by  the  priest  J6n  Th6rdharson,  and  contained  in  the  famous 
compilation  known  as  the  Flateyar-b6k,  or  "Flat  Island  Book." 
This  priest  was  editing  the  saga  of  King  Olaf  Tryggvesson,  which 
is  contained  in  that  compilation,  and  inasmuch  as  Leif  Ericsson's 
presence  at  King  Olaf's  court  was  connected  both  with  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  into  Greenland  and  with  the  discovery  of 
Vinland,  J6n  paused,  after  the  manner  of  mediaeval  chroniclers, 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      373 

and  inserted  then  and  there  what  he  knew  about  Eric  and  Leif 
and  Thorfinn.  .  .  .  J6n's  version  .  .  .  has  generally  been  printed 
under  the  title,  "Saga  of  Eric  the  Red."  1 

The  teacher  may  then  read : 

One  of  the  men  who  accompanied  Eric  to  Greenland  was 
named  Herjulf,  whose  son  Bjarni,  after  roving  the  seas  for  some 
years,  came  home  to  Iceland  in  986  to  drink  the  Yuletide  ale 
with  his  father.  Finding  him  gone,  he  weighed  anchor  and  started 
after  him  to  Greenland,  but  encountered  foggy  weather,  and  sailed 
on  for  many  days  by  guess-work  without  seeing  sun  or  stars. 
When  at  length  he  sighted  land  it  was  a  shore  without  moun- 
tains, showing  only  small  heights  covered  with  dense  woods.  It 
was  evidently  not  the  land  of  fiords  and  glaciers  for  which  Bjarni 
was  looking.  So  without  stopping  to  make  explorations  he  turned 
his  prow  to  the  north  and  kept  on.  The  sky  was  now  fair,  and 
after  scudding  nine  or  ten  days  with  a  brisk  breeze  astern,  Bjarni 
saw  the  icy  crags  of  Greenland  looming  up  before  him,  and  after 
some  further  searching  found  his  way  to  his  father's  new  home. 
On  the  route  he  more  than  once  sighted  land  on  the  larboard. 

The  narrative  then  relates  how  Leif,  the  son  of  Eric 
the  Red,  "  stimulated  by  what  he  had  heard  about 
Bjarni's  experiences,"  went  out  to  explore  the  lands 
which  Bjarni  had  seen  and  thus  came  upon  what  is  now 
supposed  to  have  been  our  own  continent.2 

Which  version  has  here  been  followed?  The  teacher 
reads  from  the  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni : 

1  Fiske,  Discovery  of  America,  I,  198-199. 
1  Ibid.,  162-164. 


374  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

Leif  went  to  the  court  of  King  Olaf  Tryggvason.  He  was  well 
received  by  the  king,  who  felt  that  he  could  see  that  Leif  was  a 
man  of  great  accomplishments.  Upon  one  occasion  the  king 
came  to  speech  with  Leif,  and  asks  him,  "  Is  it  thy  purpose  to  sail 
to  Greenland  in  the  summer?"  "It  is  my  purpose,"  said  Leif, 
"  if  it  be  your  will."  "  I  believe  it  will  be  well,"  answers  the  king, 
"  and  thither  thou  shalt  go  upon  my  errand,  to  proclaim  Chris- 
tianity there."  Leif  replied  that  the  king  should  decide,  but  gave 
it  as  his  belief  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  carry  this  mission  to  a 
successful  issue  in  Greenland.  The  king  replied  that  he  knew  of 
no  man  who  would  be  better  fitted  for  this  undertaking,  "  and  in 
thy  hands  the  cause  will  surely  prosper."  "This  can  only  be," 
said  Leif,  "  if  I  enjoy  the  grace  of  your  protection."  Leif  put  to 
sea  when  his  ship  was  ready  for  the  voyage.  For  a  long  time  he 
was  tossed  about  upon  the  ocean,  and  came  upon  lands  of  which  he 
had  previously  had  no  knowledge.  There  were  self-sown  wheat 
fields  and  vines  growing  there.  There  were  also  those  trees  there 
which  are  called  "  mausur,"  and  of  all  these  they  took  specimens. 

Leif  eventually  reached  Greenland  and  proclaimed 
Christianity.  There  was  "  much  talk  about  a  voyage  of 
exploration  to  that  country  which  Leif  had  discovered," 
and  Thorstein  Ericsson  led  an  expedition  to  explore 
it.  The  expedition  was,  however,  unsuccessful.  Later 
"Karlsefni  and  Snorri  fitted  out  their  ship,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  going  in  search  of  that  country  in  the  spring. 
Biarni  and  Thorhall  joined  the  expedition  with  their 
ship."  This  expedition  was  successful  and  Wineland 
was  thus  definitely  revealed.1 

1  The  Northmen,  Columbus,  and  Cabot,  Original  Narratives,  25,  26, 31-44- 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      375 

It  is  at  once  apparent  that  this  is  not  the  story  told  in 
the  passage  cited  from  Fiske.  The  teacher  turns  to 
the  other  version : 

Biarni  arrived  with  his  ship  at  Eyrar  [in  Iceland]  in  the 
summer  of  the  same  year,  in  the  spring  of  which  his  father  had 
sailed  away  [for  Greenland].  Biarni  was  much  surprised  when  he 
heard  this  news,  and  would  not  discharge  his  cargo.  His  ship- 
mates inquired  of  him  what  he  intended  to  do,  and  he  replied  that 
it  was  his  purpose  to  keep  his  custom  and  make  his  home  for  the 
winter  with  his  father ;  "and  I  will  take  the  ship  to  Greenland,  if 
you  will  bear  me  company."  They  all  replied  that  they  would 
abide  by  his  decision.  Then  said  Biarni,  "Our  voyage  must  be 
regarded  as  foolhardy;  seeing  that  no  one  of  us  has  ever  been  in 
the  Greenland  Sea."  Nevertheless  they  put  out  to  sea  when  they 
were  equipped  for  the  voyage,  and  sailed  for  three  days,  until  the 
land  was  hidden  by  the  water,  and  then  the  fair  wind  died  out, 
and  north  winds  arose,  and  fogs,  and  they  knew  not  whither  they 
were  drifting,  and  thus  it  lasted  for  many  "dosgr."  Then  they 
saw  the  sun  again,  and  were  able  to  determine  the  quarters  of  the 
heavens ;  they  hoisted  sail,  and  sailed  that  "  doegr  "  through  before 
they  saw  land.  They  discussed  among  themselves  what  land  it 
could  be,  and  Biarni  said  that  he  did  not  believe  that  it  could  be 
Greenland.  They  asked  whether  he  wished  to  sail  to  this  land  or. 
not.  "  It  is  my  counsel,"  [said  he],  "  to  sail  close  to  the  land."  They 
did  so,  and  soon  saw  that  the  land  was  level  and  covered  with 
woods,  and  that  there  were  small  hillocks  upon  it." 

As  they  sailed  on  they  saw  land  a  second  and  a  third 
time,  but  did  not  go  ashore.  When  at  last  they  reached 
Greenland  and  Biarni  told  of  the  lands  which  he  had  seen, 
"  the  people  thought  that  he  had  been  lacking  in  enter- 


376  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

prise,  since  he  had  no  report  to  give  concerning  these  coun- 
tries, and  the  fact  brought  him  reproach."  Leif,  the  son 
of  Eric  the  Red,  visited  Biarni,  bought  a  ship  of  him  and 
sailed  away  to  explore  the  land  which  Biarni  had  seen.1 

Here  evidently  is  the  version  which  Fiske  has  fol- 
lowed. The  other,  and  older  of  the  two  versions,  is 
regarded  by  critics  as  the  more  probable.  Fiske  himself 
says  that  it  is  the  one  to  which  he  has  "most  frequently 
referred."  Why,  then,  does  he  offer  the  Flat  Island 
Book  version? 

The  teacher  who  wishes  to  test  a  little  further  Fiske's 
use  of  the  material  may  read  what  is  said  about  Eric's 
lack  of  interest  in  Christianity  and  compare  with  refer- 
ences to  the  subject  in  the  sagas.  "Eric,  it  is  said," 
writes  Fiske,  "preferred  to  go  in  the  way  of  his  fathers, 
andvdeemed  boisterous  Valhalla,  with  its  cups  of  wassail, 
a  place  of  better  cheer  than  the  New  Jerusalem,  with 
its  streets  of  gold."2  The  sagas  make  no  mention  of 
"boisterous  Valhalla"  or  the  "New  Jerusalem."  In 
one  place  it  is  stated  that  "Eric  was  slow  in  forming  the 
determination  to  forsake  his  old  belief,"  in  another  place, 
that  he  died  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and 
in  still  another  place,  that  he  was  actually  baptized.3 

1  The  Northmen,  Columbus,  and  Cabot,  Original  Narratives,  48-50. 

1  Fiske,  Discovery  of  America,  I,  163. 

*  Reeves,  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,  36,  57,  69. 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      377 

Elementary  exercises  in  putting  facts  together  may  be 
of  two  general  kinds.  The  pupil  may  be  asked  to  select 
from  such  facts  as  have  been  presented  those  that  can 
be  included  under  a  given  group  name.  Or  he  may  be 
given  a  group  of  facts  and  asked  to  supply  an  appropri- 
ate group  name.  Exercises  of  either  kind  should  suggest 
arrangements  different  from  those  already  given  in  class 
or  in  the  textbook.  A  seventh  grade,  after  learning  the 
origin  of  the  name  America,  may  be  asked  to  find  the  dis- 
coverers of  America.  Usually  they  think  of  only  one 
discoverer.  The  group  name,  "Discoverers  of  America," 
will  suggest  the  Norsemen,  Columbus,  the  Cabots,  and 
Vespucius,  and  give  a  somewhat  different  significance 
to  their  achievements.  The  exercise  may  be  reversed. 
The  achievements  may  be  grouped  and  the  class  asked 
to  supply  a  name  for  the  group.  Such  exercises  may 
begin  as  early  as  the  fourth  grade,  and  in  the  seventh 
and  eighth  grades  may  be  extended  to  topics  of  larger 
scope,  illustrating  different  modes  of  grouping,  the  chron- 
ological, the  geographical,  the  logical,  and  combinations 
of  the  three.  Pupils  may  be  asked  to  prepare  a  chro- 
nology of  discovery  and  exploration  in  America,  1000- 
1565,  to  group  discoverers  and  explorers  with  reference 
to  their  nationality,  with  reference  to  the  flag  which 
they  carried,  with  reference  to  the  territory  which 
they  discovered  or  explored,  to  put  together  facts 


378  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

illustrative  of  the  relations  between  white  men  and 
Indians. 

In  the  upper  grades  a  beginning  may  be  made  also  of 
exercises  in  which  pupils  consciously  apply  on  their 
own  initiative  principles  of  selection  and  grouping. 
The  problem  may  be  to  read  a  brief  narrative,  or  parts 
of  several  narratives,  to  pick  out  the  facts  that  seem  to 
be  the  most  important,  and  to  put  them  together  in  the 
form  of  a  connected  story.  Pupils  trained  to  analyze 
and  to  rearrange  their  reading  in  the  manner  described 
in  the  chapter  on  the  use  of  textbooks  l  may  be  expected 
to  make  very  acceptable  reports  on  wisely  selected 
readings. 

All  of  the  materials  to  which  reference  has  thus  far 
been  made  can  be  used  also  in  the  high  school.  They 
will,  of  course,  not  be  used  if  the  children  have  already 
worked  out  the  problems  in  the  elementary  school. 
The  difference  is  in  the  treatment.  In  the  elementary 
school  the  teacher  does  most  of  the  reading  and  directs 
attention  to  the  problems  by  questioning.  In  the 
high  school  the  pupil  may  himself  do  most  of  the  read- 
ing and  reach  his  conclusions  with  less  direct  guidance. 

Work  in  the  high  school  should  include  written  exer- 
cises in  which  the  pupil  classifies  his  material,  passes 
judgment  upon  its  value  for  the  topic  under  discussion, 
1  See  above,  p.  187. 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      379 

and  gives  specific  references.  It  is  well  for  these  pur- 
poses to  follow  a  fixed  plan.  A  regular  printed  form  with 
spaces  for  required  data  is  convenient  and  can  easily 
be  made  up  to  order  by  any  printer.  It  may  be  a  sepa- 
rate sheet  or  included  on  the  first  page  of  a  folded  sheet 
of  any  size  desired.  The  following  is  an  example : 

STUDIES  IN  HISTORY 

M.  (Name  of  pupil).    Subject 

Assigned  (Insert  date).    Report  (Insert  date). 

Number  of  pages  read.    .    .    Time  spent  in  preparation.  .  .  . 

REFERENCES 


Sources 

Secondary  works 

Personal  impression  of  authors 
Best  single  reference    .     .     .     . 


In  making  assignments  to  individual  pupils  the  teacher 
writes  in  the  name  of  the  pupil,  the  subject,  the  date  of 
assignment,  and  the  date  for  handing  in  the  report. 
For  some  exercises  the  teacher  indicates  also  the  works 
to  be  consulted.  Where  there  is  to  be  general  class 
discussion  the  subject  should  usually  be  the  same  for 
all  and  should  be  one  that  lends  itself  to  brief  treatment. 
The  paper  should  either  have  a  ruled  margin  or  space 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sheet  for  specific  references  for  the 
body  of  the  report.  Two  or  three  short  papers  in  which 


380  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

the  authorities  are  indicated,  and  two  or  three  short 
papers  and  one  paper  of  considerable  length  in  which 
the  pupils  find  their  own  authorities,  will  ordinarily  be 
sufficient  in  any  one  year. 

Subjects  for  such  papers  should  be  so  stated  as  to  call 
for  definite  conclusions.  What  boundaries  were  assigned 
to  Virginia  by  the  charter  of  1609?  Why  was  Roger 
Williams  banished  from  Massachusetts?  Who  was  the 
author  of  the  Monroe  doctrine?  When  and  where  did 
Henry  Clay  say  that  he  would  rather  be  right  than  be 
president?  For  the  first  independent  quest  for  mate- 
rial it  is  sometimes  convenient  to  assign  brief  extracts 
from  standard  works,  with  instructions  to  the  pupil  to 
trace  the  authority  for  the  facts  alleged  to  primary 
sources,  to  decide  whether  the  facts  are  correctly  reported 
in  the  extract  assigned,  and  to  describe  just  how  he  went 
to  work  to  find  his  materials.  The  following  are  types 
of  extracts  that  have  been  tested  in  this  way : 

One  day  Peisistratus  appeared  in  his  chariot  in  the  popular 
assembly,  covered  with  blood  and  alleging  that  he  had  been 
attacked  and  wounded.  On  the  motion  of  Ariston  the  people 
resolved  with  the  consent  of  the  council  to  assign  him  a  guard  of 
fifty  club  men.  He  obtained  more  than  fifty,  and  seized  the 
citadel. 

At  length  with  great  toil  and  peril  Hannibal  reached  the  sum- 
mit, where  he  rested  his  men  and  cheered  them  with  some  such 
words  as  these:  "Here  on  the  summit  of  the  Alps,  we  hold  the 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      381 

citadel  of  Italy ;  below  us  on  the  south  are  our  friends,  the  Gauls, 
who  will  supply  us  with  provisions  from  their  bountiful  lands  and 
will  help  us  against  their  deadly  foes ;  and  yonder  hi  the  distance 
lies  Rome." 

[Death  and  burial  of  Alaric.]  Now  that  their  leader  had 
died  in  an  enemy's  land  they  [the  Germans]  outdid  themselves  in 
showing  him  honour.  They  forced  their  Roman  captives  to  divert 
the  current  of  the  river  Busento,  in  order  that  his  grave  should 
be  undisturbed.  Here  in  the  bed  of  the  stream,  with  rich  treasures 
heaped  around  him,  they  laid  him  to  rest.  The  water  was  turned 
back  into  its  course,  and  the  workmen  were  slain  lest  they  should 
betray  the  secret.  * 

Roger  Williams.  Born  in  Wales  about  1600:  died  in  Rhode 
Island,  probably,  in  March  or  April,  1684. 

[Battle  of  Crecy.]  A  small  ditch  protected  the  English  front, 
and  behind  it  the  bowmen  were  drawn  up  "in  the  form  of  a  har- 
row," with  small  bombards  between  them  "which,  with  fire,  threw 
little  iron  balls  to  frighten  the  horses"  —  the  first  instance  of  the 
use  of  artillery  hi  field  warfare. 

[Inauguration  of  Jefferson,  1801.]  Jefferson  had  resolved  that 
no  pageant  should  give  the  lie  to  his  democratic  principles,  and 
accordingly  he  rode  on  horseback,  clad  in  studiously  plain  clothes, 
without  attendants,  to  the  capitol,  dismounted,  tied  his  horse  to 
the  fence,  and  walked  unceremoniously  into  the  senate  chamber. 

It  is  sometimes  useful  to  assign  work  of  this  kind 
before  giving  definite  instruction  and  practice  in  the  use 
of  indexes,  tables  of  contents,  card  catalogues,  footnotes, 
lists  of  authorities  in  histories,  bibliographical  sugges- 
tions in  encyclopedias,  and  special  historical  bibliog- 
raphies. The  result  is  likely  to  convince  the  pupil  of 


382  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

the  utility  of  such  aids.  But  the  instruction  should 
at  some  time  be  definitely  given  and  with  it  sufficient 
practice  to  insure  a  reasonable  degree  of  facility.  There 
should  be  special  exercises  in  bibliography  and  at  least 
one  of  the  short  papers  in  each  year  may  be  of  this 
character.  The  subject  must  of  course  be  one  on  which 
not  too  much  has  been  written.  The  pupil  may  be 
shown  a  bibliography  of  Franklin  or  of  Hamilton ;  he 
could  scarcely  be  expected  to  make  one.  The  subjects 
must  usually  be  local  celebrities  not  too  celebrated,  and 
local  incidents  or  questions  not  too  widely  heralded,  or, 
in  the  field  at  large,  relatively  obscure  persons,  inci- 
dents, and  questions. 

Any  work  in  the  high  school  involving  comparisons  of 
different  accounts  should  be  reduced  to  a  definite  system. 
The  pupil  should  do  more  than  read  the  accounts  and 
report  his  general  impressions.  He  should  carefully 
tabulate  point  by  point,  either  in  parallel  columns  or  on 
separate  cards,  each  fact  or  opinion  in  the  accounts  and 
then  compare  point  by  point.  It  is  only  after  careful 
training  that  impressions  gained  merely  by  reading  are 
in  any  way  to  be  depended  upon.  Many  intelligent 
persons  overlook  striking  differences  even  in  dealing 
with  very  familiar  material.  Classes  made  up  of  teach- 
ers have  repeatedly  failed,  with  the  materials  definitely 
before  them,  to  detect  any  difference,  except  in  phrase- 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      383 

ology,  between  the  command  to  keep  the  Sabbath  as 
stated  in  Deuteronomy  v,  12-16,  and  in  Exodus  xx, 
8-12. 

The  interest  of  pupils  in  problems  designed  to  convey 
impressions  of  what  is  involved  in  arriving  at  the  truth 
about  the  past  will  be  stimulated  by  occasional  reference 
to  specific  achievements  of  historical  criticism.  How 
did  Lorenzo  Valla  prove  the  donation  of  Constantine 
a  forgery  ?  l  How  did  Champollion  decipher  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics  ?  2  By  what  process  was  the  famous  story 
that  "as  the  first  thousand  years  of  our  calendar  drew 
to  an  end,  in  every  land  of  Europe  the  people  expected 
with  certainty  the  destruction  of  the  world"  shown  to 
be  a  mere  legend  ?  3  How  did  Professor  Dunning  prove 
that  George  Bancroft  wrote  President  Johnson's  first 
annual  message  ? 4  Not  only  may  an  account  of  the 
problem  and  its  solution  be  presented,  but  some  of  the 
steps  in  the  solution  may  occasionally  be  taken  in  class. 
First-year  pupils  in  the  high  school,  knowing  how 
Champollion  reached  the  conclusion  that  a  certain  group 
of  characters  made  up  the  name  Ptolemy  and  another 
group  the  name  Cleopatra,  will,  with  the  two  groups 

1  Coleman,  Constantine  the  Great  and  Christianity,  191-199. 

*  Budge,  The  Mummy,  129-147. 

1  American  Historical  Review,  VI,  429-439. 

*Ibid.,  XI,  574-583. 


384 


TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 


placed  upon  the  blackboard,  themselves  readily  do  a 
little  deciphering.  The  names  written  in  hieroglyphics 
are  as  follows: 

No.  i.    Ptolemy. 


No.  2.     Cleopatra. 


The  class  may  be  asked  to  pick  out  the  signs  which 
are  identical  in  the  two  groups  and  compare  their 
positions  with  the  letters  in  the  names  above  each  car- 
touche. Thus  sign  No.  i  in  cartouche  No.  i  is  seen  to 
be  the  same  as  sign  No.  5  in  cartouche  No.  2.  The 
first  letter  in  Ptolemy  is  P  and  the  fifth  letter  in  Cleo- 
patra is  P.  What  is  the  natural  inference?  Before  the 
comparison  has  been  completed  the  class  should  be  told 
that  signs  10  and  1 1  always  accompany  feminine  names. 

With  the  characters  thus  discovered  the  class  may 
examine  cartouche  No.  3. 

No.  3. 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND  THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      385 

Knowing  from  cartouches  Nos.  i  and  2  the  signs  i,  2, 
4,  5,  7,  and  8  the  class  may  write  out  the  equivalents  in 
our  own  alphabet,  leaving  blank  spaces  for  the  unknown 
character^.  They  will  then  readily  see  how  a  scholar 
might  at  once  surmise  that  the  cartouche  contains  the 
name  Alexander  and  that  the  values  of  three  additional 
signs  have  been  discovered.  The  teacher  need  not  be 
surprised  if,  after  such  a  lesson,  a  demand  arises  for 
signs  sufficient  to  enable  pupils  to  write  their  own  names 
in  hieroglyphics.1  The  exercise  in  a  somewhat  simplified 
form  has  been  tried  with  success  even  in  a  sixth  grade. 

Exercises  in  historical  construction  of  the  kind  sug- 
gested for  the  elementary  school  may  be  continued  in 
the  high  school,  with  the  addition  of  some  illustrations 
of  historical  organization  drawn  from  the  practice  of 
historians.  The  principle  of  grouping  facts  according  to 
kind  and  of  arranging  each  kind  in  chronological  order 
can  be  extended  and  used  with  profit  as  a  basis  for  drill 
and  review.  The  Indian  question  hi  the  United  States, 
the  tariff,  internal  improvements,  slavery,  the  money 
of  the  United  States,  and  other  similar  topics,  treated 
in  this  way,  should  each  call  up  readily  a  procession  of 
dates  attended  by  associations  that  bring  definitely  into 
view  the  main  facts  relating  to  each  topic  so  far  as  de- 
veloped. This  plan  makes  possible  a  variety  of  interest- 
1  For  materials  see  Budge,  The  Mummy,  366-375. 
1C 


386  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

ing  studies  of  the  relations  of  facts  within  a  group  to 
each  other  and  to  facts  in  other  groups,  studies  which 
give  to  cause  and  effect  in  history  a  meaning  quite 
different  from  that  ordinarily  conveyed  by  a  ready-made 
enumeration  of  cause  and  effect. 

If  the  burden  imposed  upon  the  memory  by  learning 
a  considerable  number  of  dates  is  considered  too  great, 
something  similar  in  character  can  be  accomplished  by 
a  distribution  of  topics.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year 
say  to  A :  "I  want  you  to  be  our  specialist  on  American 
slavery.  As  the  work  goes  on  you  are  to  enter  in  your 
notebook  everything  that  has  any  bearing  on  slavery. 
You  are  to  know  definitely  the  dates,  the  situations,  and 
their  relations  to  other  situations.  Whenever  we  are 
in  doubt  on  any  question  connected  with  slavery,  we  shall 
turn  to  you  for  information."  Say  to  B  :  "You  are  to  be 
our  specialist  on  the  tariff,"  and  repeat  the  directions 
given  for  slavery.  It  is  easy  in  this  way  to  assign  to 
each  member  of  the  class  some  special  topic  for  which 
he  is  to  be  individually  responsible  throughout  the  year. 
Have  the  whole  class  copy  all  the  tables  compiled,  but 
do  not  hold  all  responsible  for  all  the  tables.  As  a  part 
of  the  review  of  each  lesson  ask  if  there  are  any  additions 
to  be  made  to  the  notebook.  If  so,  have  them  copied 
then  and  there.  All  will  find  these  tables  useful  in  gen- 
eral reviews  where  general  reviews  are  required.  All 


SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD      387 

will  obtain  new  light  on  the  relations  of  facts  to  each 
other.  The  plan  can  be  applied  in  developing  the  history 
of  any  country. 

It  is  quite  possible  to  leave  the  pupil  at  the  end  of  his 
high  school  course  with  fairly  definite  impressions  of 
history  both  as  a  process  of  establishing  and  organizing 
truth  and  as  a  body  of  organized  truth.  It  is  too  much 
to  expect  to  leave  him  with  habits  of  investigation  so 
firmly  fixed  and  with  a  mind  so  open  to  historical  evi- 
dence as  to  insure  him  against  all  future  lapses  from  the 
historical  treatment  of  historical  data.  There  are  too 
many  melancholy  examples  of  failure  on  the  part  even 
of  highly  trained  historical  specialists  to  apply  the 
principles  of  historical  science  to  leave  room  for  any  such 
pious  expectation.  It  is,  however,  permissible  to  hope 
that  a  tendency  may  be  developed  to  treat  ordinary  data 
historical  in  character  with  some  degree  of  discrimina- 
tion. It  is  permissible  to  hope  that  a  foundation  may 
be  laid  for  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  histories.  It  is 
something  merely  to  be  protected  against  the  gilded 
historical  rubbish  so  extensively  advertised  in  periodi- 
cals and  in  special  circulars,  and  so  often  commended 
by  ex  qfficio  critics  o^  the  class  vaguely  described  by 
book  agents  as  the  "best  people."  The  "best  people" 
may  buy  a  ten-volume  history  of  the  world  convinced 
of  its  enormous  erudition  by  the  statement  in  capital 


\ 

388  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

letters  that  it  is  "  the  most  scholarly  work  of  its  time." 
It  must  be,  for  the  author  spent  three  whole  years  in 
preparing  it.  A  graduate  from  a  high  school  ought  to 
know  that  ten-volume  scholarship  ranging  over  such  a 
field  and  three  years  of  preparation  are  hopelessly 
incompatible. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  CORRELATION  OF  HISTORY  WITH  OTHER  SUBJECTS 
IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

THE  correlation  of  school  studies  means  a  treatment 
in  which  knowledge  or  discipline  derived  from  one 
subject  is  brought  into  connection  with  knowledge  or 
discipline  derived  from  other  subjects.  It  is  of  two 
general  kinds:  (i)^  the  incidental  correlation  which 
springs  from  a  broad  view  of  any  subject  and  is  sug- 
gested for  the  illumination  of  the  subject  itself,  and 
(2)  the  systematic  correlation  which  seeks  in  varying 
degrees  to  unify  the  curriculum. 

Incidental  correlation  is  correlation  of  the  kind 
described  by  the  Committee  of  Seven.  "Ideal  condi- 
tions," said  the  Committee,  "will  prevail  when  the 
teachers  in  one  field  of  work  are  able  to  take  wise  ad- 
vantage of  what  their  pupils  are  doing  in  another ;  when 
the  teacher  of  Latin  or  Greek  will  call  the  attention 
of  his  pupils,  as  they  read  Caesar  or  Xenophon,  to  the 
facts  which  they  have  learned  in  their  history  classes ; 
when  the  teachers  of  French  and  German  and  English 
will  do  the  same ;  when  the  teacher  of  physical  geography 

389 


39°  TEACHING    OF   HISTORY 

will  remember  that  the  earth  is  man's  dwelling  place,  or 
more  properly  his  growing  place,  and  will  be  able  to  re- 
late the  mountains,  seas,  and  tides  of  which  he  speaks 
with  the  growth  ^and  progress  of  men ;  when  he  will  re- 
member that  Marco  Polo  and  Henry  the  Navigator  and 
Men  wether  Lewis  were  unfolding  geography  and  making 
history,  and  that  Cape  Verde  not  only  juts  out  into  the 
Atlantic  but  stands  forth  as  a  promontory  in  human 
history.  Is  the  time  far  distant  when  the  march  of  the 
Ten  Thousand  will  be  looked  upon  not  merely  as  a  pro- 
cession of  optative  moods  and  conditional  clauses,  but 
as  an  account  of  the  great  victory  won  by  Greek  skill, 
discipline,  and  intelligence  over  the  helplessness  of  orien- 
tal confusion  ?  And  will  Caesar  long  be  taught  only  as 
a  compound  of  ablative  absolutes  and  indirect  discourses, 
rather  than  as  a  story,  told  by  one  of  history's  greatest 
men,  of  how  our  Teutonic  forefathers  were  brought  face 
to  face  with  Roman  power,  and  how  the  peoples  of  Gaul 
were  subjected  to  the  arts  and  the  arms  of  Rome,  and 
made  to  pass  under  the  yoke  of  bondage  to  southern 
civilization  and  southern  law  ?  The  teacher  of  history, 
if  he  knows  the  foreign  languages  which  his  pupils  are 
studying,  may  connect  the  words  they  have  learned  with 
concrete  things ;  and  he  may,  above  all,  help  to  give  the 
young  people  who  are  trying  to  master  a  foreign  tongue, 
some  appreciation  of  the  tone,  temper,  and  spirit  of 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      391 

.  the  people,  without  which  a  language  seems  void  and 
characterless." 1 

Incidental  correlation  was  probably  introduced  by 
the  first  good  teacher  and  has  probably  found  some 
illustration  in  the  work  of  good  teachers  ever  since. 
The  gain  and  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  it  scarcely 
need  statement.  It  should,  however,  be  observed  that 
the  Committee  of  Seven  in  discussing  the  principle 
employed  the  future  tense.  There  was  apparently  need 
in  1899  of  directing  the  attention  of  teachers  in  general  to 
rather  obvious  possibilities,  and  there  is  still  need  of 
emphasis. 

Systematic  correlation  not  only  looks  to  the  indi- 
vidual teacher  to  take  advantage  in  each  field  of  what 
pupils  are  doing  in  other  fields,  but  jglans  definitely  in 
advance  to  have  pupils  constantly  dealing  in  each  field 
with  material  bearing  upon  material  in  other  fields. 
Comenius  had  the  idea.  Jacatot  expressed  it  in  his 
paradox,  "All  is  in  all,"  and  in  the  corollary,  "Know  one 
thing  thoroughly  and  relate  everything  else  to  that." 
Herbart  led  up  to  it  in  his  conception  of  apperception 
as  the  assimilation  of  a  new  idea  by  ideas  already  in  the 
mind.  The  principle,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of 

• 

Herbartians,  began  to  be  applied  in  the  United  States 
about  forty  years  ago,  and  by  1890  had  come  to  occupy 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  30-32. 


3Q2  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

a  leading  place  in  educational  discussions.  The  early 
nineties  resounded  with  concrete  examples  of  close 
correlation.  A  supervisor  of  elementary  instruction 
discovered  that  history  could  be  introduced  into  arith- 
metic and  arithmetic  into  history  by  computing  the 
difference  between  the  number  of  British  and  the  num- 
ber of  colonial  casualties  at  Bunker  Hill.  A  superin- 
tendent of  schools  discovered  an  intimate  connection 
between  the  hanging  of  two  murderers  in  an  adjoining 
county  and  the  subjects  in  the  school  curriculum.  A 
newspaper  editorial  on  the  hanging  served,  it  was  said, 
as  a  lesson  in  reading.  A  class  in  civics  debated  the 
question  of  capital  punishment.  A  class  in  history  com- 
pared the  crimes  punishable  by  death  in  England  in  the 
seventeenth  century  with  crimes  punishable  by  death 
in  the  United  States  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  A  class  in  arithmetic  computed  the  board 
feet  of  lumber  in  the  scaffold.  A  class  in  physics  calcu- 
lated the  tension  of  the  rope.  The  principle  seemed  to 
admit  of  limitless  application.  Might  not  to-day's 
lesson  in  arithmetic  be,  not  merely  one  growing  out  of 
yesterday's  lesson  in  arithmetic  and  leading  up  to  the 
arithmetic  lesson  of  to-morrow,  but  one  growing  out 
of  yesterday's  lesson  in  arithmetic,  geography,  nature 
study,  drawing,  current  events,  and  even  history  and 
literature,  and  leading  up  to  the  lessons  of  to-morrow  in 


CORRELATION    OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER    SUBJECTS      393 

all  of  these  lines?  Might  not  lessons  in  each  subject 
be  planned  in  this  way  with  definite  reference  to  lessons 
in  other  subjects? 

The  ideal  may  appear  attractive,  but  there  are  great 
practical  difficulties.  The  special  school  studies,  as 
ordinarily  conceived,  do  not  offer  in  sufficient  number 
the  necessary  points  of  contact.  To  force  relations  is 
to  develop  views  often  superficial  and  sometimes  gro- 
tesque. Any  high  degree  of  systematic  correlation 
seems  to  require  either  that  all  knowledge  desirable  for 
school  purposes  be  thrown  intp  one  general  mass  and 
then  reorganized  without  reference  to  the  "artificial 
lines"  created  by  the  growth  of  special  studies,  or  else 
that  some  one  subject  or  line  of  interest  be  selected  as 
a  center  or  core  about  which  to  group  materials  from 
other  subjects.  The  most  notable  achievements  in 
close  correlation  have  been  of  the  latter  sort.  Ziller, 
a  follower  of  Herbart,  chose  history  as  the  central  sub- 
ject and  built  around  it,  for  the  elementary  school,  a 
course  of  study  based  upon  the  culture-epoch  theory. 
Among  other  subjects  and  lines  of  interest  that  have 
at  various  times  been  used  as  the  organizing  core  are 
general  science,  geography,  and  the  social  life  of  the 
school.  This  is  what  is  commonly  called  concentration. 
It  is  unnecessary  for  the  present  purpose  to  examine  in 
detail  such  comprehensive  schemes  of  correlation.  The 


394  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

conditions  will  be  sufficiently  illustrated  by  a  brief 
consideration  of  the  relations  between  history  and 
geography,  history  and  literature,  and  history  and 
government. 

The  theater  of  events  is  a  necessary  part  of  their 
reality.  It  is  in  many  cases  the  cause  that  produced 
them.  Man  makes  his  physical  environment.  He  is 
also  made  by  his  physical  environment.  The  story  of 
his  life  is  in  any  case  inseparable  from  his  physical  en- 
vironment. Geography  describes  this  environment. 
It  must,  in  describing  it,  include  the  works  of  man. 
History  without  geography  and  geography  without 
history  are  alike  unthinkable.  School  courses  in  the 
two  fields  would,  therefore,  seem  naturally  to  invite 
correlation. 

The  situation  has  been  clearly  recognized  and  con- 
sciously faced  in  the  making  of  programs  for  European 
elementary  schools.  The  German  pupil  commonly 
begins  with  realien,  a  blending  of  geography,  history, 
and  general  science.  From  object  lessons  connected 
with  the  teaching  of  language  he  is  gradually  led  to  home 
geography,  local  traditions,  and  nature  study.  Geog- 
raphy and  history,  on  becoming  separate  subjects,  go 
hand  in  hand  as  he  passes  from  the  district  to  the  prov- 
ince and  on  to  the  Empire.  Beyond  the  Empire  the 
subjects  necessarily  draw  apart.  History  is  essentially 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      395 

German  history.  Geography  takes  a  wider  survey. 
The  French  elementary  program  keeps  the  topics  in 
history  and  geography  related  in  a  general  way  through- 
out the  course.  History,  in  the  upper  classes,  passes 
from  a  review  of  French  history  to  summary  notions  of 
ancient,  mediaeval  and  modern  history,  and  of  current 
events.  Geography,  in  the  upper  classes,  passes  from 
Europe  to  the  world  at  large. 

European  secondary  schools,  like  European  elementary 
schools,  provide  instruction  in  the  two  subjects  through- 
out the  whole  or  most  of  the  course.  Secondary  school 
programs  show,  however,  in  general  less  attention  to 
correlation  than  elementary  school  programs.  Some 
programs  for  secondary  schools  in  Germany  arrange  to 
have  countries  treated  in  the  history  course  treated  at 
about  the  same  time  in  the  geography  course.  The 
relations  are  further  emphasized  by  the  general  prac- 
tice of  assigning  to  the  same  teacher  classes  both  in 
geography  and  in  history.  In  programs  of  the  concen- 
tration type,  with  history  as  the  central  subject,  the  cor- 
relation reaches  even  individual  topics  in  individual 
lessons.  But,  in  the  main,  the  history  course  is  planned 
for  history  and  the  geography  course  for  geography. 
This  is  true  in  a  still  higher  degree  in  France.  The 
ancient  custom  of  intrusting  the  two  subjects  to  the  same 
teacher  remains,  but  even  that  has  been  severely  criti- 


396  TEACHING    OF   HISTORY 

cised.  "In  France,"  writes  M.  Langlois,  "geography 
has  long  been  regarded  as  a  science  closely  related  to 
history.  An  Agregation,  which  combines  history  and 
geography,  exists  at  the  present  day,  and  in  the  lycees 
history  and  geography  are  taught  by  the  same  pro- 
fessors. Many  people  persist  in  asserting  the  legiti- 
macy of  this  combination,  and  even  take  umbrage  when 
it  is  proposed  to  separate  two  branches  of  knowledge 
united,  as  they  say,  by  many  essential  connecting  links. 
But  it  would  be  hard  to  find  any  good  reason,  or  any 
facts  of  experience,  to  prove  that  a  professor  of  history 
or  an  historian  is  so  much  the  better  the  more  he  knows 
of  geology,  oceanography,  climatology,  and  the  whole 
group  of  geographical  sciences.  In  fact  it  is  with  some 
impatience,  and  to  no  immediate  advantage,  that  the 
students  of  history  work  through  the  courses  of  geog- 
raphy which  their  curricula  force  upon  them;  and 
those  students  who  have  a  real  taste  for  geography 
would  be  very  glad  to  throw  history  overboard.  The 
artificial  union  of  history  with  geography  dates  back, 
in  France,  to  an  epoch  when  geography  was  an  ill-de- 
fined and  ill-arranged  subject,  regarded  by  all  as  a  negli- 
gible branch  of  study.  It  is  a  relic  of  antiquity  that 
we  ought  to  get  rid  of  at  once."  * 

1  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  theiStudy  of  History,  46-47, 
Note. 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      397 

In  the  majority  of  American  schools  little  history 
is  taught  below  the  seventh  grade,  and  in  the  upper 
grades  the  subject  is  usually  American  history.  In 
the  high  school,  geography  is  scarcely  taught  at  all. 
The  opportunities  for  correlation  are  in  consequence, 
for  most  schools,  so  limited  that  they  scarcely  suggest 
a  practical  problem.  With  more  history  in  the  elemen- 
tary school  and  more  geography  in  the  high  school, 
general  correlation  of  the  kind  worked  out  in  the  French 
elementary  program  and  in  some  German  secondary 
programs  would  appear  to  be  desirable.  But  for  the 
most  part  European  experience  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  place  to  emphasize  the  geographical  background  of 
history  is  in  the  history  course,  and  that  the  place  to 
emphasize  the  historical  background  of  geography  is 
in  the  geography  course.  At  best,  the  geography  needed 
to  illuminate  history  may  or  may  not  be  the  geography 
needed  to  illuminate  geography,  and  the  history  needed 
to  illuminate  geography  may  or  may  not  be  the  history 
needed  to  il 


The  correlation  of  history  and  literature  presents  a 
somewhat  different  problem.  History  began  as  a  branch 
of  literature,  and  history  conceived  in  the  literary  spirit 
continues  to  find  publishers  and  readers.  The  line  of 
demarcation  which  critical  historians  have  been  drawing 
during  the  last  hundred  years,  and  which  is  now  fairly 


398  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

clear  to  special  students  of  history,  has  to  some  extent 
been  recognized  in  the  shaping  of  school  programs. 
But  the  attitude  of  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  edu- 
cational world  has  from  the  first  been  unfriendly  toward 
all  attempts  to  sever  history  from  its  literary  asso- 
ciations. 

Jacob  Grimm,  a  century  ago,  complained  that  educa- 
tion had  created  an  unnatural  gulf  between  history 
and  poetry,  and  this  is  still  the  opinion  of  many  writers 
on  education.  There  are,  as  we  have  seen,  theories  of 
grading  history  that  require  a  romantic  treatment  of 
the  subject  even  in  the  high  school.  There  are  educa- 
tional aims  that  point  to  history  as  an  "epic,  a  drama, 
and  a  song."  There  are  conceptions  of  historical  truth 
that  place  the  tales  of  poets  above  the  sober  facts  nar- 
rated by  historians.  In  many  cases,  therefore,  the  cor- 
relation of  history  and  literature  means  the  treatment  of 
history  itself  in  the  literary  spirit  and,  in  some  cases, 
the  treatment  of  history  itself  for  the  sake  of  literature. 
"Most  people,"  argued  a  prominent  speaker,  discussing, 
some  years  ago,  the  aims  of  history  teaching,  "in  think- 
ing of  Lexington  and  Concord,  think  of  Paul  Revere's 
Ride.  The  poem  should,  then,  be  taught,  not  only 
because  it  is  eminently  suitable  for  school  use,  but  be- 
cause children  made  familiar  with  it  are  to  that  extent 
brought  into  harmony  with  their  environment  outside 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      399 

of  school."  "Why,"  asked  another  speaker  on  a  simi- 
lar occasion,  <f should  we  teach  the  events  of  April  19, 
I775?"  "Chiefly,"  was  the  answer,  "in  order  that 
children  may  understand  Paid  Revere 's  Ride." 

Advocates  of  the  correlation  that  ends  by  swamping 
history  in  literature  have  a  simple  task.  Literature 
abounds  in  portrayals  of  scenes  and  characters,  great 
and  small,  by  poets,  dramatists,  and  novelists.  The 
materials  have  so  often  been  searched  out  and  listed 
that  no  great  amount  of  ingenuity  is  required  to  discover 
them.  It  is  easy  .to  fill  the  history  course  with  such 
materials  and  to  correlate  with  similar  materials  in  read- 
ing courses  and  in  studies  in  literature.  It  is  easy,  if 
there  are  qualms  of  historical  conscience,  to  point  out 
general  distinctions  between  history  and  literature  and 
easy  to  preserve  peaceful  relations  afterward  by  a  little 
honest  lapse  of  memory  in  applying  the  distinctions,  or 
by  a  little  honest  ignorance  of  history.  But  difficulties 
of  a  somewhat  serious  character  await  those  who  really 
explore  the  mutual  contributions  of  the  two  fields.  "His- 
tory," we  read,  for  example,  "is  the  record  of  men's 
deeds.  Literature  is  the  record  of  men's  thoughts  and 
feelings.  How  can  one  record  be  understood  without 
reading  the  other  also?  Indeed,  it  is  only  by  bringing 
the  two  records  together  and  comparing  them — in- 
terpreting men's  feelings  in  the  light  of  their  deeds, 


400  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

and  illustrating  their  deeds  by  their  sentiments  and 
feelings  as  they  are  expressed  in  literature  —  that  the 
study  of  either  literature  or  history  can  be  made  vital."  1 
History  does  not,  of  course,  stop  with  men's  deeds,  and 
literature  does  not  stop  with  men's  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings. History  habitually  includes  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings ;  literature  does  not  hesitate  to  describe  deeds.  A 
considerable  part  of  the  literature  used  in  school  to 
illuminate  history  is,  indeed,  almost  pure  narration  of 
events.  But,  waiving  this  objection,  and  admitting  that 
the  two  records  should  be  brought  together  and  com- 
pared, other  difficulties  appear.  The  speaker  who  found 
in  Paul  Revere 's  Ride  a  reason  for  studying  history  would, 
in  all  probability,  have  been  less  sure  of  his  ground  if  his 
logic  had  carried  him  to  the  actual  test.  It  would  seem 
at  least  of  doubtful  value,  either  to  history  or  to  liter- 
ature, before  or  after  galloping  with  Paul  Revere  into 
"Concord  town"  in  Longfellow's  spirited  poem,  to  be 
stopped  on  the  road  by  British  soldiers  in  some  cold 
history,  with  no  hint  that  "the  fate  of  a  nation"  was 
thus  dismounted  or  that  the  steed  was  responsible  for  a 
"spark"  which  "kindled  the  land  into  flame  with  its 
heat."  A  good  poem  or  novel  may  be  quite  spoiled  by 
a  little  consideration  of  the  bald  facts  and  their  historical 

1  Report,  Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the  Middle  States  and 
Maryland,  1908,  p.  50. 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS    401 

significance.    A  clear  page  of  history  may  reap  only 
confusion  from  romance. 

It  is  of  course  possible  to  select,  both  from  contempo- 
rary literature  and  from  later  literary  reconstructions  of 
the  past,  records  that  need  not  be  questioned.  The 
object  may  be  merely  to  illustrate  the  sentiments  of 
individual  authors.  The  record  may  be  one  in  which 
the  facts  of  history  are  touched  but  lightly,  or  in  a  very 
general  way,  and  as  a  mere  background,  with  emphasis 
upon  impressions  made  by  the  facts  or  upon  their  larger 
meaning.  One  does  not  check  severely  Byron's  sum- 
mary of  Greek  history  .in  the  Isles  of  Greece,  or  the  con- 
versation between  the  mate  and  the  admiral  in  Joaquin 
Miller's  Sail  On.  One  does  not  look  to  Browning's  Abt 
Vogler  or  A  Grammarian's  Funeral  for  biography.  The 
situation  is  in  any  event  saved,  in  most  cases,  by  the 
simple  device  of  not  bringing  the  two  records  together 
for  comparison.  Those  who  look  upon  Ivanhoe  as  "a 
true  picture  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  or  A  Tale  of  Two  Cities 
as  "a  true  picture  of  the  French  Revolution,"  naturally 
feel  no  need  of  instituting  comparisons.  Those  who  are 
more  critical,  and  who  recommend  such  works  for  "purely 
illustrative  purposes,"  usually  find  comparisons  with 
matter  of  fact  pictures  impracticable.  For  teachers  in 
general  it  is  enough  that  historical  fiction  is  supposed  to 
be  more  interesting  than  history,  that  it  is  supposed  to 

2  D 


402  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

have  more  atmosphere,  and  that  it  is  supposed  to  lead 
in  time  to  the  reading  of  serious  history.  Lady  Clarinda 
spoke  for  a  large  class  of  readers.  "History,"  she  said, 
"is  but  a  tiresome  thing  in  itself;  it  becomes  the  more 
agreeable  the  more  romance  is  mixed  up  with  it.  The 
great  enchanter  has  made  me  learn  many  things  which 
I  should  never  have  dreamed  of  studying,  if  they  had 
not  come  to  me  in  the  form  of  amusement." 1 

The  romantic  treatment  of  history  has  been  com- 
mended even  by  historians.  Thierry  eulogized  Cha- 
teaubriand and  contrasted  Scott's  "wonderful  compre- 
hension of  the  past  with  the  petty  erudition  of  the  most 
celebrated  modern  historians."  The  appearance  of 
Ivanhoe  he  saluted  "with  transports  of  enthusiasm." 
It  was  apparently  from  Scott  that  he  derived  the  inspi- 
ration for  his  Conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans,  and  it 
was  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Scott  that  he  wrote  at  the  end 
of  one  of  his  chapters:  "These  men  have  been  dead 
seven  hundred  years.  But  what  of  that?  For  the 
imagination  there  is  no  past."2 

If  the  discredit  cast  upon  Thierry  by  historical  critics 
is  held  to  detract  from  the  value  of  his  praise,  we  have, 
nearer  home,  the  generous  recognition  accorded  by  James 

1  Thomas  Love  Peacock,  Crotchet  Castle,  Scribner's  Edition,  427. 
("The  great  enchanter"  was  of  course  Sir  Walter  Scott.) 

1  Gooch,  History  and  Historians  in  the  Nineteenth  Century ,  170,  171. 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER    SUBJECTS    403 

Ford  Rhodes  to  a  novelist  within  a  field  already  investi- 
gated by  the  historian.  "What  I  have  attempted  in 
the  way  of  color  when  touching  upon  South  Carolina 
and  Charleston,"  says  Rhodes,  "has  been  completely  and 
artistically  done  by  Owen  Wister  in  'Lady  Baltimore.' 
Every  student  of  the  South  during  the  period  of  re- 
construction will  have  his  knowledge  clarified  and  his 
judgment  informed  by  a  study  of  this  delicate  portrayal 
of  the  people  of  Charleston.  Through  the  charm  of  a 
skillfully  constructed  story,  he  will  be  made  to  see  life 
as  it  is  and  as  it  was.  Nothing,  in  my  judgment,  has 
been  written  to  prove  so  powerful  an  agent  in  bringing 
to  pass  Lamar's  noble  words,  'My  countrymen,  know 
one  another  and  you  will  love  one  another.'"  1 

Other  historians  have  been  less  favorably  impressed 
by  historical  fiction.  It  was  no  less  a  master  than  Ranke 
who  declared  that  "the  discovery  of  the  difference  in 
the  portraits  of  Louis  XI  and  Charles  the  Bold  in  Quen- 
tin  Durward  and  in  Commines  constituted  an  epoch  in 
his  life."  "I  found  by  comparison,"  he  says,  "that  the 
truth  was  more  interesting  and  beautiful  than  the  ro- 
mance. I  turned  away  from  it  and  resolved  to  avoid  all 
invention  and  imagination  in  my  work  jind_to  stick  to 
the  facts." 2 

1  History  of  the  United  States  from  the  Compromise  of  1850,  VI,  p.  vii. 
1  Gooch,  History  and  Historians  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  78. 


404  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  quotations  from  histo- 
nans  in  praise  or  dispraise  of  historical  fiction.  It  would 
be  easy  to  show  similar  differences  of  opinion  among 
literary  critics,  and  even  among  novelists  themselves.1 
The  teacher  who  desires  to  prove  either  side  by  citations 
of  opinion  will  find  no  lack  of  distinguished  support. 

Accuracy  in  historical  detail  is  rarely  claimed  for  histori- 
cal novels  and  rarely  tested  in  school,  and  the  encomiums 
pronounced  upon  atmosphere  come  so  often  from  those 
who  have  scarcely  looked  at  history,  outside  of  a  text- 
book, that  the  claims  are  subject  to  some  suspicion. 
There  should  at  least  be  a  distinction  between  an  atmos- 
phere really  true  to  history  and  an  atmosphere  which 
appears  true  to  the  reader  merely  because  he  feels  atmos- 
phere. The  extent  to  which  historical  novels  cultivate 
a  taste  for  history  is  debatable.  It  will  not  do  to  argue 
that,  because  Parkman  was  led  by  Cooper's  novels  to 
write  one  of  the  greatest  of  American  histories,  the  pupil 
who  begins  with  Cooper  will  end  with  Parkman.  It  is 
safer,  as  a  general  proposition,  to  argue  that  the  historical 
noyq|  ffllttvfttffl  a  taste  for  the  historical  novel.  jQer- 
tainly  tests  of  teachers  addicted  to  historical  novels  show 
an  almost  hopeless  mortality  in  crossing  the  bridge  to 
history.  At  bottom,  the  argument  for  the  introduction 

1  For  examples  of  literary  opinion  see  Forum,  XXIV,  70-91,  and 
Andr6  Le  Breton,  Balzac,  83. 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      405 

of  historical  fiction  into  school  instruction  in  history 
rests,  in  most  cases,  upon  the  grounds  stated  by  Lady 
Clarinda.  Historical  fiction  is  used  because  it  is  inter- 
esting. To  a  large  extent  literature  in  general  is  used 
for  the  same  and  for  no  other  real  reason. 

Teachers  of  history,  especially  in  the  elementary 
school,  concede  too  readily  that  history  is  "but  a  tire- 
some thing  in  itself."  The  tradition,  it  should  be  re- 
membered, has  in  the  main  been  established  by  those 
who  are  more  familiar  with  literary  than  with  historical 
interpretations  of  history.  Those  who  have  tried  the 
latter  have  often  discovered,  even  in  the  elementary 
school,  that  there  are  children  who,  like  Ranke,  find 
"the  truth  more  interesting  and  beautiful  than  the 
romance."  But  even  if  the  greater  interest  of  the  lit- 
erary interpretation  be  granted,  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  place  of  history  is  in  the  camp  of  literature  whenever 
it  happens  to  meet  a  poet,  dramatist,  or  novelist,  who 
has  drawn  materials  from  its  highways  or  byways. 

History  contributes  to  literature.  It  furnishes  material 
and  inspiration  to  literary  genius.  It  supplies  the  back- 
ground of  conditions  and  events  contemporary  with 
literary  genius  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  relates  the  times 
to  the  man.  It  records  great  achievements  in  literature 
with  great  achievements  in  other  fields  of  human  activ- 
ity. It  is  itself  in  some  cases  literature.  Literature 


406  TEACHING    OF   HISTORY 

contributes  to  history.  It  furnishes  indications  of  pop- 
ular taste  and  of  moral  and  intellectual  standards.  It 
sheds  light  upon  the  prejudices,  the  ideals,  and  the 
aspirations  of  a  people.  It  is  to  be  counted  with  the 
forces  that  mold  the  life  of  a  people.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
atmosphere  of  its  age.  Each  field  is  dependent  upon 
the  other.  But  history  moves  primarily  in  the  realm  of 
fact.  Literature  moves  primarily  in  the  realm  of  art. 
The  difference  is  radical  both  in  spirit  and  in  purpose. 
It  may  be  that  literature  is  of  the  higher  value  to  human- 
ity. The  value  of  history  is  not,  in  any  event,  to  be 
realized  by  teaching  literature.  The  duty  of  those  who 
profess  to  teach  history  is  to  teach  history. 

The  relations  between  history  and  government  have, 
through  most  of  the  history  of  history,  been  so  intimate 
that  to  discuss  them  is  much  like  discussing  the  relation 
of  botany  to  plants  or  of  zoology  to  animals.  When 
Freeman  pronounced  history  past  politics  he  summed 
up  at  least  the  common  practice  of  past  historians. 
History  meant  for  centuries  essentially  the  history  of 
rulers  and  of  governmental  operations,  and  affairs  of 
state  still  occupy  the  most  prominent  place  in  the  pages 
of  the  general  historian.  The  study  of  history  in  school 
has  been  from  the  beginning,  in  large  part,  a  study  of 
forms  of  government,  of  changes  in  government,  and  of 
the  workings  of  government.  Partly  as  cause  and  partly 


CORRELATION    OF    HISTORY    WITH    OTHER    SUBJECTS      407 

as  effect  of  this  arrangement,  it  has  for  many  years  been 
an  axiom  that  the  study  of  history  should  prepare  for 
political  duties.  It  has  for  many  years  been  assumed 
that  history  accomplishes  the  purpose. 

In  Europe  the  correlation,  if  the  term  is  here  appli- 
cable, has  been  and  is  so  complete  that  government 
is  commonly  taught  as  a  part  of  the  course  in  history. 
The  need  of  more  political  instruction  has  often  been 
emphasized,  but  almost  invariably  as  a  part  of  instruc- 
tion in  history.  It  is  a  need  that  has  recently  found 
frequent  expression,  especially  in  Germany.  Vergang- 
enheit  und  Gegenwart,  in  its  initial  number  in  1911,  pub- 
lished the  opinions  of  six  prominent  German  statesmen. 
Prince  Billow,  one  of  the  contributors,  quoted  a  remark 
made  by  Dr.  Althoff  in  response  to  a  suggestion  that 
political  instruction  in  Germany  left  much  to  be  desired. 
"We  are,"  said  Dr.  Althoff,  "the  first  people  in  philos- 
ophy, music,  lyric  poetry.  No  one  surpasses  us  in 
bravery  before  the  enemy.  In  science  and  in  technics, 
in  trade  and  industry  we  have  made  mighty  progress. 
Since  one  cannot  at  the  same  time  do  and  be  everything 
it  need  not  surprise  your  Highness  if  we  are  political 
donkeys." l  Prince  Billow,  without  going  as  far  as  Dr. 
Althoff,  recognized  a  serious  defect  in  school  instruction, 
which  he  proposed  to  remedy  by  making  political  intel- 

1  Heft  I,  5. 


408  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

ligence  and  a  sense  of  political  duty  the  first  aim  in  the 
teaching  of  history.  This  seems  to  be  at  present  a  view 
widely  held  in  Europe. 

In  the  United  States,  opinion  has  to  a  considerable 
extent  followed  the  conclusions  of  the  Committee  of 
Seven.  "Much  time"  said  the  Committee,  "will  be 
saved  and  better  results  obtained  if  history  and  civil 
government  be  studied  in  large  measure  together,  as  one 
subject  rather  than  as  two  distinct  subjects.  We  are 
sure  that,  in  the  light  of  what  has  been  said  in  the  earlier 
portions  of  this  report  about  the  desirability  of  school 
pupils  knowing  their  political  surroundings  and  duties, 
no  one  will  suppose  that  in  what  we  recommend  we  under- 
estimate the  value  of  civil  government  or  wish  to  lessen 
the  effectiveness  of  the  study.  What  we  desire  to  em- 
phasize is  the  fact  that  the  two  subjects  are  in  some 
respects  one,  and  that  there  is  a  distinct  loss  of  energy 
in  studying  a  small  book  on  American  history  and 
afterward  a  small  book  on  civil  government,  or  vice 
versa,  when  by  combining  the  two  a  substantial  course 
may  be  given. 

"In  any  complete  and  thorough  secondary  course  in 
these  subjects  there  must  be,  probably,  a  separate 
study  of  civil  government,  in  which  may  be  discussed 
such  topics  as  municipal  government,  state  institutions, 
the  nature  and  origin  of  civil  society,  some  fundamental 


CORRELATION    OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      409 

notions  of  law  and  justice,  and  like  matters ;  and  it  may 
even  be  necessary,  if  the  teacher  desires  to  give  a  com- 
plete course  and  can  command  the  time,  to  supplement 
work  in  American  history  with  a  formal  study  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  workings  of  the  national  government. 
But  we  repeat  that  a  great  deal  of  what  is  commonly 
called  civil  government  can  best  be  studied  as  a  part  of 
history.  To  know  the  present  form  of  our  constitutions 
well,  one  should  see  whence  they  came  and  how  they 
developed ;  but  to  show  origins,  developments,  changes, 
is  the  task  of  history,  and  in  the  proper  study  of  history 
one  sees  just  these  movements  and  knows  their  results."1 
In  1908,  however,  a  committee  of  five  of  the  American 
Political  Science  Association  reported  that  "the  coft- 
sensus  of  opinion  and  the  existing  practice  are  clearly 
in  favor  of  teaching  American  government  as  a  distinct  J 
branch  of  high  school  study,"  and  proceeded  with  vigor 
to  assail  the  position  of  teachers  who  still  believed  that 
American  government  should  be  taught  in  the  course 
hi  American  history.  The  arguments  for  the  latter  ar- 
rangement, as  summarized  by  the  Committee,  were : 

i.  Since  American  government  is  largely  an  outgrowth  of 
American  history,  both  should  be  studied  simultaneously.  2.  The 
subjects  should  be  taught  together  to  save  time  and  avoid  the 
repetition  of  history.  3.  The  subject  of  government  when  taught 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  81-82. 


4IO  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

apart  from  history  is  abstract  and  very  general,  therefore  unin- 
teresting to  high  school  students.  4.  Because  of  the  recommenda- 
tion made  by  the  Committee  of  Seven  of  the  American  Historical 
Association. 

In  answer  to  these  arguments  the  political  science 
Committee  found  in  the  first  statement  a  "pedagogical 
fallacy."  "It  does  not  follow  that  because  government 
is  largely  an  outgrowth  from  history  a  boy  in  the  high 
school  should  study  them  at  the  same  time."  The  sec- 
ond statement  was  declared  to  be  its  own  best  refuta- 
tion. If  there  is  not  room  for  government,  there  ought 
to  be  room.  As  for  the  repetition  of  history  in  the  study 
of  government,  "it  is  exactly  this  kind  of  correlation  that 
we  want."  The  third  statement  was  held  to  be  "really 
directed  against  the  threadbare  stuff  that  formerly  was 
taught  under  the  meaningless  name  of  'Civics'"  and 
therefore  without  special  significance.  The  conclusions 
of  the  Committee  of  Seven  were  found  "hesitating  and 
apparently  contradictory."  That  Committee,  it  was 
inferred,  "did  not  aim  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  course 
in  government,  but  undertook  to  adapt  it  to  the  needs  of 
instruction  in  history."  The  results  of  combining  the 
two  subjects  were  described.  "In  most  instances  the 
teachers  present,  in  these  combination  courses,  American 
history  as  it  is  commonly  taught,  with  a  brief  study  of 
local  government  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS      411 

colonies,  a  few  lessons  on  the  Constitution  in  the  consti- 
tution-making period,  and  then  some  hurried  lessons  here 
and  there  on  special  topics  like  the  Speaker,  the  veto 
power,  etc."  "  We  cannot  hope,"  added  the  Committee, 
"for  anything  but  the  merest  botch  work  from  such  plans 
of  instruction."  :  \  U  -  }  »*^4M 

The  Committee  of  Five  of  the  American  Historical 
Association  restated  the  views  of  the  Committee  of  Seven 
and  expressed  general  sympathy  therewith,  but,  recogniz- 
ing more  definitely  the  need  of  some  separate  work  in 
government,  proposed  to  divide  between  history  and 
government  the  time  allotted  to  history  in  the  fourth 
year  of  the  high  school.  "Two-fifths  of  the  time,"  said 
the  Committee,  "may  be  given  to  separate  work  in  gov- 
ernment and  three-fifths  to  the  course  in  history.  This 
arrangement  will  not  appear  to  all  teachers  as  ideal; 
some  teachers  will  desire  more  time  for  history,  others 
more  time  for  government.  But  on  the  whole  the  dis- 
tribution appears  to  be  the  best  that  can  be  proposed, 
and  we  should  be  the  last  to  assert  that  no  teacher  should 
modify  any  adjustment  or  arrangement  to  suit  his  own 
needs  and  inclinations,  if  they  are  based  on  an  intelligent 
regard  for  the  subject;  and  his  pupils.  Many  teachers 
will  prefer  to  give  the  civil  government  separately  after 

1  Proceedings,  American  Political  Science  Association,  1908,  p.  228, 
231,  232,  234,  236,  238. 


412  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

the  history  work  is  concluded.  But  while  this  plan  may 
have  its  advantages  in  some  respects,  the  continuous 
study  of  government  throughout  the  year  side  by  side 
with  history  has  also  advantages  that  merit  some  con- 
sideration. Where  the  study  of  government  extends 
through  the  whole  year,  there  are  many  opportunities 
for  concrete  illustrations  and  even  learning  by  observa- 
tion, which  are  not  allowed  in  a  shorter  time :  elections 
are  held;  municipal  problems  arise  and  are  discussed 
in  the  newspapers;  important  appointments  to  office 
are  announced ;  the  usual  presidential  message  appears. 
These  advantages  will  induce  many  teachers  to  prefer 
"the  system  of  carrying  government  through  the  year 
side  by  side  with  history."  l 

The  conceptions  of  history  and  of  history  teaching 
which  have  been  especially  emphasized  in  these  pages  are, 
it  is  at  once  apparent,  quite  irreconcilable  with  any 
general  scheme  of  close  correlation  except  the  concentra- 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Five,  52-53. 

The  writer  is  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  government  should  be 
taught  as  a  separate  subject  both  in  the  elementary  and  in  the  second- 
ary school.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  teaching  of  government  has 
not  been  included  in  the  present  work.  The  thread  of  governmental 
institutions  about  which  school  history  is  still  commonly  organized  is  a 
part  of  history  and  as  such  in  no  need  of  special  discussion.  But  govern- 
ment as  a  separate  and  systematic  study  of  political  institutions  and 
present  civic  life  offers  problems  that  require  for  their  elucidation  a 
separate  treatise. 


CORRELATION   OF   HISTORY   WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS    413 

tion  about  history  of  all  the  materials  in  the  curriculum. 
History  is  not  without  claims  to  such  a  position.  It 
is,  as  suggested  by  the  Committee  of  Seven,  by  its  very 
nature  a  central  subject.  The  specialist  in  every  field 
now  views  his  field  historically,  and  the  teacher  of  any 
subject  is  to  some  extent  called  upon  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  specialist.  "As  a  theoretical  proposition, 
at  least,"  said  the  Committee  of  Seven,  "the  assertion 
that  the  story  of  life  and  the  onward  movement  of  men, 
not  their  language  or  their  physical  environment,  should 
form  the  center  of  a  liberal  course,  would  seem  to  leave 
little  ground  for  argument."  *  Yet  concentration  about 
history  would,  perhaps,  be  as  undesirable  for  history 
as  for  the  subjects  thus  subordinated  to  history.  Each 
subject  presents  facts  and  processes  essential  to  the 
understanding  or  appreciation  of  the  world  as  it  is, 
which,  to  be  made  effective,  must  be  worked  out  on  the 
principle  "This  one  thing  I  do,"  and  with  materials 
selected  with  an  eye  single  to  the  one  thing.  There  are, 
beyond  question,  natural  points  of  contact  that  should 
be  foreseen  in  planning  the  curriculum  and  consciously 
turned  to  account  by  all  teachers.  But  it  is  at  best  a 
doubtful  procedure  so  to  manipulate  any  subject  as  to 
impair  the  integrity  of  its  own  peculiar  contribution. 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  32. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
THE  HISTORY  EXAMINATION 

SCHOOL  examinations  occasionally  involve  tests  of 
tastes,  interests,  and  habits.  More  commonly  they  are 
confined  to  tests  of  what  pupils  know  and  of  what  they 
are  able  to  do  with  what  they  know.  To  the  extent  that 
such  processes  are  involved,  every  school  lesson  is  an 
examination.  More  specifically  an  examination  is  the 
formal  and  more  or  less  formidable  test  which  most 
pupils  at  some  stage  of  their  school  career  learn  to  ex- 
pect at  the  end  of  the  month,  the  term,  the  year,  or  the 
course.  The  latter  is  the  usual  conception  and  is  the 
one  to  be  considered  in  the  present  chapter. 

The  examination  idea,  as  developed  in  Europe  and 
America,  had  its  origin  in  the  universities  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  where  it  was  applied  in  testing  candidates  for 
admission  to  the  various  university  degrees.  It  appears 
to  have  been  first  carried  over  into  school  practice  for  the 
purpose  of  indicating  to  outside  authorities  the  quality 
of  school  work.  Early  school  examinations  were  oral 
and  were  conducted  by  bishops  and  other  learned  men. 
Such  were  the  "school  visitations"  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 

414 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  415 

tury.  The  step  to  written  examinations  conducted  by 
teachers  in  the  school  appears  to  have  been  taken  partly 
as  a  matter  of  convenience,  partly  to  meet  the  objection 
that  examinations  by  strangers  placed  both  teachers 
and  pupils  at  a  disadvantage,  and  partly  as  the  expres- 
sion of  a  growing  confidence  in  teachers.  In  the  case  of 
the  Merchant  Taylors'  School  in  London,  the  last  two 
of  these  reasons  were  specifically  alleged  when,  after 
forty  years  of  visitation,  provision  was  made  in  1601 
for  introducing  written  examinations  to  be  set  by  the 
masters,  and  for  confining  the  work  of  visitors  to  a  review 
of  the  papers.1  Another  purpose  that  early  came  into 
view  in  England  was  the  award  of  scholarships  on  the 
basis  of  examination  results.  Our  own  vexed  question 
of  college  entrance  examinations  was  launched  in  1642, 
when  Harvard  first  formulated  its  requirements.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  most  of  the  pur- 
poses and  problems  now  commonly  associated  with  school 
examinations  had  been  disclosed.  The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury added  few  new  elements,  but  extended  the  applica- 
tion of  the  examination  idea  far  beyond  all  earlier  prac- 
tice and  perfected  the  machinery  of  examinations.  The 
period  of  greatest  development  in  the  United  States  was 
ushered  in  about  forty  years  ago. 
The  experience  of  the  sixteenth  century  brought  into 

1  Monroe,  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  II,  533-534. 


41 6  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

discussion  two  fundamental  questions  of  procedure: 
Shall  examinations  be  determined  within  or  without  the 
schools  ?  Shall  they  be  written  or  oral  ?  To  these  ques- 
tions different  countries  have  returned  somewhat  differ- 
ent answers.  The  most  important  European  school 
examination  is  the  leaving  examination  at  the  end  of 
the  secondary  school  course.  Under  the  Prussian  sys- 
tem, established  in  1788,  there  are  written  examinations 
extending  over  four  or  five  days  and,  for  those  whose 
papers  are  not  entirely  satisfactory,  supplementary  oral 
examinations.  The  examination  board  consists  of  a 
government  inspector,  the  head  of  the  school,  and  the 
upper  class  teachers.  The  questions  for  the  written 
examinations  are  selected  by  the  inspector  from  lists 
prepared  by  the  teachers.  The  papers  are  marked  by 
the  teachers  concerned  and  then  submitted  to  the  board 
as  a  whole.  The  French  baccalaureat  de  V enseignement 
secondaire  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  system  established  in 
1808.  The  regulations,  as  revised  in  1902,  require  ex- 
aminations on  the  subjects  pursued  during  the  second 
cycle.  The  examinations  are  in  two  parts,  separated  by 
an  interval  of  a  year.  For  some  subjects  the  examina- 
tions are  in  part  written  and  in  part  oral ;  for  others  the 
examinations  are  entirely  oral.  The  examining  board 
consists  of  two  or  more  members  of  university  faculties 
and  two  or  more  secondary  teachers  either  active  or  re- 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  417 

tired.  These  two  systems  are  typical  of  the  practice  of 
continental  Europe.1 

The  examinations  most  familiar  in  the  United  States 
are  examinations  to  test  at  short  intervals  the  progress 
of  pupils,  and  examinations  to  determine  fitness  for  pro- 
motion, for  a  school  certificate  or  diploma,  or  for  entrance 
to  college.  Examinations  to  test  progress  are  usually 
framed  and  conducted  by  class  teachers  in  consultation 
with  the  principal  of  the  school.  Other  examinations 
are  sometimes  determined  within  the  school  and  some- 
times by  state,  or  college,  or  other  authorities  outside 
of  the  school.  The  examinations  most  widely  known  are 
those  conducted  by  the  College  Entrance  Examination 
Board,  organized  in  1900,  and  pronounced  by  Presi- 
dent Butler  in  1913  "by  far  the  most  useful  single  con- 
structive force  that  has  ever  come  into  the  field  of 
American  secondary  and  collegiate  education."  2  The 
Board  represents  both  colleges  and  secondary  schools,  and 
both  have  a  voice  in  the  framing  of  questions  and  in  the 
marking  of  papers.  Examinations  are  held  at  different 
centers  throughout  the  country,  and  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  successful  candidates  are  admitted  to  colleges 
throughout  the  country. 

The  examinations  most  frequently  under  discussion 

1  See  article  on  Examinations,  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  nth  edition. 
*  College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  Report,  1914,  p.  3. 

2E 


4l8  TEACHING   OF  HISTORY 

are  those  determined  in  whole  or  in  part  by  outside  au- 
thorities. Where  such  examinations  are  required  the 
natural  tendency  on  the  part  both  of  teachers  and  of 
pupils  is  to  prepare  for  examinations,  and  even  to  look 
upon  examinations  as  the  chief,  end  of  study.  This  is 
by  no  means  an  unmixed  evil.  It  has,  indeed,  been  an 
important  factor  in  elevating  standards  and  a  power- 
ful, if  not  altogether  worthy,  stimulus  to  effort  on  the 
part  of  pupils.  The  problem  is  so  to  adjust  the  examina- 
tions as  not  to  interfere  with  purposes  which  may  be 
considered  of  higher  merit  than  the  attainment  of  passing 
grades.  It  is,  as  suggested  by  the  Madison  Conference,  to 
devise  some  system  "by  which  schools  which  use  proper 
methods  shall  have  some  advantage." 1  Under  European 
systems  of  school  organization  such  adjustments  are 
relatively  simple.  The  curriculum  determines  the  nature 
of  the  examinations.  Under  English  and  American  sys- 
tems the  examinations  often  determine,  if  not  the  curric- 
ulum, at  least  the  general  methods  of  teaching. 

Some  subjects  lend  themselves  readily  to  examination. 
The  ability,  for  example,  to  read  Latin,  or  to  solve  a 
problem  in  Algebra,  can  be  definitely  and  adequately 
tested.  The  subject  of  examination  is  in  each  case  a 
process.  Where  the  subject  of  an  examination  is  not 
a  process,  but  a  body  of  facts,  and  where  the  test  of 

1  Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  183. 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  419 

ability  resolves  itself  largely  into  a  test  of  ability  to  re- 
member, the  results  may  or  may  not  furnish  true  indica- 
tions of  the  actual  attainments  of  pupils.  This  has  from 
the  beginning  been  the  situation  for  history.  Examiners 
have  for  years  wrestled  with  the  problem  of  introducing 
"thought"  questions.  They  have  asked  for  comparison 
and  inference,  for  causes  and  results.  They  have  en- 
deavored to  test  the  ability  to  select  from  a  mass  of  facts 
the  essentials,  to  arrange  them  in  orderly  form,  to  deter- 
mine their  bearing  on  present-day  problems.  They  have 
raised  questions  on  collateral  reading  designed  to  test 
both  knowledge  arid  taste.  Efforts  in  these  directions 
are  obviously  more  likely  to  prove  effective  in  oral 
than  hi  written  examinations,  and  history  under  the 
Prussian  and  French  systems  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
listed  with  the  subjects  in  which  examinations  are  ex- 
clusively oral.  But  the  history  examination,  whether 
oral  or  written,  seems  to  remain  essentially  an  exercise 
for  the  memory.  Certainly  little  more  can  be  claimed 
for  it  in  its  written  form  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  typical  examination  set 
in  England  for  pupils  of  about  the  age  of  American  pupils 
in  the  third  year  of  the  high  school : 


[Candidates  are  required  to  attempt  at  least  ONE  question  in  each 
section  of  the  paper,  and  not  more  than  six  altogether.} 


420  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

A 

1.  Trace  the  history  of  the  divorce  of  Catharine  of  Aragon 
and  show  how  it  affected  the  separation  from  Rome. 

2.  Write  short  narratives  of  (a)  Wyatt's  Rebellion,  (b)  the 
loss  of  Calais. 

3.  Give  a  rapid  sketch  of  English  literature  under  Elizabeth. 

B 

4.  Explain  the  royalist  successes  in  the  first  two  years  of  the 
Great  Rebellion  (1642,  1643).    Why  were  they  not  maintained? 

5.  What  were  the  objects  aimed  at  by  the  Navigation  Acts? 
What  results  were  achieved  ? 

6.  Give  some  account  of  the  doings  of  the  English  navy  during 

the  reign  of  William  III. 

C 

7.  Sketch  the  relations  between  England  and  Spain  during 
the  eighteenth  century. 

8.  Give  some  account  of  the  opposition  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
and  of  the  careers  of  the  leaders  of  that  opposition. 

9.  Trace  in  outline  the  principal  stages  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion from  its  outbreak  in  1789  to  the  establishment  of  the  French 

Empire  in  1804. 

D 

10.  Write  a  brief  description  of  the  following  battles,  and 
show  their  importance :  Vinegar  Hill,  Vittoria,  Navarino,  Isandh- 
Iwana. 

11.  Outline,  with  brief  comments,  the  repressive  measures  of 
1819  (the  six  Acts). 

12.  How  did  (a)  the  coup  d'ftat  of  1851,  (b)  the  Crimean  winter, 
affect  the  constitution  of  the  British  Ministry  for  the  time  being  ?  1 

1  This  list  of  questions  is  taken  from  Keatinge,  Studies  in  the  Teach- 
ing of  History,  173. 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  421 

This  examination  covered  the  period  from  1485  to  the 
death  of  Queen  Victoria. 

The  following  questions,  set  by  the  College  Entrance 
Examination  Board  in  1914,  may  be  taken  as  fairly 
representative  of  recent  American  practice: 

HISTORY   C  —  ENGLISH  HISTORY 

In  each  answer  give  dates. 

In  your  answer  to  at  least  one  question  mention  authors, 
and  titles  of  any  books  which  you  have  used,  in  addition  to 
your  textbook,  on  the  general  subject  referred  to  in  the 
question  or  on  some  phase  of  that  subject.  In  your  answer 
to  the  question  selected,  include  results  of  your  reading  out- 
side the  textbook.  Indicate  the  nature  or  content  of  one 
book  other  than  your  textbook  and  point  out  how  the  book 
has  helped  you. 

GROUP  I.     (Answer  one  question  only.) 

1.  Name  three  great  churchmen  of  England  living  before 
1215,  who  were  also  great  statesmen.    Describe  carefully  the 
work  of  one  of  them. 

2.  Show  that  you  have  a  definite  knowledge  of  five  of  the  fol- 
lowing, writing  not  less  than  four  or  five  lines  on  each :   Consti- 
tutions of  Clarendon,   Cade's  Rebellion,  Curia  Regis,  Joan  of 
Arc,  Lollard,  Statute  of  Praemunire,  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

GROUP  II.     (Answer  one  question  only.) 

3.  "The  Petition  of  Right,  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  the 
Bill  of  Rights  are  the  complements  or  the  reassertions  of  the 
Magna  Charta."     Give  the  main  provisions  of  each  of  these 
documents  and  then  explain  what  the  quotation  means. 


422  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

4.  Name  four  prominent  literary  men  in  the  Age  of  Elizabeth 
and  the  most  famous  works  of  each.     Indicate  briefly  the  nature 
or  content  of  one  of  these  works  which  you  have  read.  . 

GROUP  III.     (Answer  one  question  only.) 

5.  It  has  been  said  that  "the  defeat  of  the  British  at  York- 
town  had  a  profound  effect  upon  the  constitutional  development 
of  Great  Britain  herself."    Explain  this  statement. 

6.  In  what  respect  is  England's  present   treatment  of  her 
colonies  different  from  that  of  the  period  1763-1775  ? 

GROUP  IV.     (Answer  three  questions  only.) 

7.  Write  fully  on  one  of  the  following :  Duke  of  Marlborough, 
John  Bright,  Robert  Peel. 

8.  What  was  Burke's  attitude  toward  the  American  Revolu- 
tion?   What  "source"  have  you  for  your  knowledge?    What 
was  Burke's  attitude  toward  the  French  Revolution? 

9.  Why  was  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  necessary?    Give  an 
account  of  its  provisions. 

10.  State  the  provisions  of  the  important  measures  for  Ireland's 
relief  advocated  by  Gladstone. 

11.  Indicate  briefly  how  England  got  control  of  Australia. 
What  is  included  in  the  Australian  Commonwealth?    What  are 
the  main  features  of  its  constitution? 

GROUP  V.     (Answer  one  question  only.) 

12.  On  map  816  indicate  with  names,  and  boundaries  or  loca- 
tions, the  possessions  which  England  gained  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

13.  On  map  816  indicate  with  names,  and  locations  or  boun- 
daries, the  possessions  of  Great  Britain  on  the  way  from  England 
to  India. 


THE   HISTORY  EXAMINATION  423 

See  that  you  have  followed  the  direction  at  the  head  of 
the  paper  regarding  dates  and  collateral  reading.1 

All  of  the  questions,  except  6  and  7,  in  the  English 
paper,  are  answered  directly  in  the  ordinary  textbooks 
and  involve  no  necessary  mental  process  beyond  memory. 
Questions  6  and  7  seem  to  suggest  something  more. 
The  facts  are  not  in  the  ordinary  textbooks.  Question 
7  would  appear  to  require  some  power  of  selection  and 
arrangement,  even  if  collateral  reading  is  assumed.  Both 
questions  can,  however,  be  avoided.  Question  3,  in  the 
opinion  of  Keatinge,  "  represents  the  worst  type  of  ques- 
tion that  can  be  set.  It  is  a  direct  encouragement  to 
teach  lists  of  names  and  characteristics  of  authors  that 
the  pupils  have  not  read,  and  this  is  useless  and  senseless 
cram  of  the  most  unprofitable  kind.  It  is  a  saddening 
reflection  that  many  competent  and  earnest  teachers 
have  to  spend  their  lives  in  preparing  pupils  to  deal  with 
papers  of  this  kind,  that  a  great  university  countenances 
such  examining  and  derives  a  pecuniary  profit  from  it, 
and  that  the  money  which  rate  payers  contribute  towards 
secondary  education  with  such  reluctance  may  be  de- 
voted to  work  of  which  such  papers  determine  the  qual- 
ity. It  is  examinations  of  this  type  which  deter  many 
able  men  from  entering  the  teaching  profession."  2  The 

1  Examination  Questions,  College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  1914, 

P-  74-75- 

4  Studies  in  the  Teaching  of  History,  175. 


424  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

condemnation  is  severe,  but  is  it  too  severe  ?  The  paper 
as  a  whole  leaves  the  impression,  as  Keatinge  further 
suggests,  that  the  examiners  have  aimed  to  ask  questions 
not  asked  in  previous  examinations  rather  than  to  bring 
out  the  real  significance  of  the  period. 

In  this  last  respect,  the  American  paper,  in  spite  of  its 
larger  scope,  is  plainly  superior  to  the  English  paper. 
In  its  search  for  evidence  of  collateral  reading  and  its 
introduction  of  map  studies  it  brings  in  important  ad- 
ditional elements.  In  other  respects,  it  invites  the  same 
general  comments  as  the  English  paper.  The  test  as 
a  whole  is  a  test  of  memory.  Question  3  calls  for  com- 
parison, but  of  a  kind  likely  to  be  made  in  the  text- 
book and  emphasized  by  the  teacher  in  class.  It  may, 
therefore,  be  simply  a  memory  question.  But  even  if  it 
is  not,  the  pupil  who  can  "give  the  main  provisions  of 
each  of  these  documents"  has  little  to  do  in  explaining 
"what  the  quotation  means."  Question  5  seems  to  call 
for  independent  interpretation  and  organization,  but  the 
answer  is  supplied  directly  by  textbooks.  Question  4  is 
hi  part  saved  from  such  strictures  as  were  passed  upon 
question  3  in  the  English  paper  by  the  call  to  "in- 
dicate briefly  the  nature  or  content  of  one  of  these 
works  which  you  have  read."  But  it  remains  a  mem- 
ory question. 

The  general  answer  of  examiners  to  such  criticism  is 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  425 

that  history  teaching  as  now  constituted  admits  of  no 
other  kind  of  examination.  The  statistics  of  the  College 
Entrance  Examination  Board  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
present  ordeal  is  sufficiently  severe.  Of  the  325  candi- 
dates who  took  the  Board  examination  in  English  history, 
cited  above,  29.8  per  cent  obtained  a  rating  of  60  or  over ; 
36.6  per  cent  obtained  ratings  below  40.  These  ratings 
compare  very  unfavorably  with  ratings  in  other  subjects 
listed  by  the  Board.  In  1914,  34.4  per  cent  of  all  candi- 
dates taking  examinations  in  history  obtained  a  rating 
of  60  or  over;  the  average  for  all  subjects  was  52.1  per 
cent.  The  record  for  history  was  lower  than  for  any 
other  subject  except  geography,  and  only  45  candidates 
offered  the  latter  subject,  while  2001  offered  history.1 
The  mortality  in  the  history  examination  has  in  fact 
become  almost  a  public  scandal,  and  has,  especially 
during  the  last  three  or  four  years,  excited  vigorous 
comment.  Numerous  explanations  have  been  offered. 
"The  most  common  remark,"  says  the  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  "has  been  that  candidates  try  the  history 
examinations  after  a  process  of  cramming,  or  at  the 
close  of  a  short  review  course  and  without  regular  in- 
struction in  the  subject."  2  But  the  difference  in  the 
grades  obtained  by  candidates  of  this  type  and  the 

1  College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  Report,  1914,  p.  54. 

2  Vol.  IV,  256. 


426  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

grades  obtained  by  candidates  who  have  had  regular 
instruction  is  too  slight  to  save  the  situation  for 
history. 

The  questions,  it  is  often  urged,  are  too  difficult  and 
the  standards  of  marking  are  too  high.  The  questions, 
it  is  retorted,  are  reasonable  and  fair,  the  markings  are 
lenient,  it  is  the  teaching  of  history  that  is  bad  and  in 
need  of  reform.  There  is  truth  on  both  sides.  The  ques- 
tions are  too  difficult  in  that  the  teacher,  unable  to  pre- 
dict where  the  lightning  will  strike,  feels  compelled  to 
teach  all  of  the  facts  in  the  ordinary  textbook.  The 
questions  are  entirely  reasonable  and  fair  in  that  the 
pupil  who  happens  to  find  them  within  the  range  of  his 
textbook  knowledge  has  ready-made  answers.  There 
have,  indeed,  been  cases  in  which  the  reading  of  a  single 
manual  on  general  history  has  enabled  a  pupil  to  pass 
examinations  in  three  of  the  four  blocks  of  history  - 
ancient  history,  mediaeval  and  modern  European  his- 
tory, and  English  history.  The  teaching  of  history  is, 
in  many  schools,  undeniably  bad.  But  the  connection 
between  bad  teaching  and  the  examination  should  not 
be  overlooked.  The  teacher  prepares  for  the  examina- 
tion. The  examination  determines  the  character  of 
the  preparation.  Each  condition  is  in  a  measure  re- 
sponsible for  the  other.  There  is  need  of  reform  at 
both  ends. 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  427 

That  school  instruction  in  history  should  leave  behind 
a  fund  of  definite  information  which  it  is  entirely  proper 
for  examiners  to  test  is  denied  by  no  sensible  teacher. 
Memory  questions  have  beyond  doubt  their  place.  But 
a  history  examination  reduced  wholly  to  memory  ques- 
tions is  unreasonable,  unfair,  and  a  standing  inducement 
to  reduce  history  teaching  to  memorizing.  Facts  are 
important.  The  American  pupil  should  know  more  of 
them  than  he  now  seems  to  know,  and  know  them  more 
definitely.  But  the  study  of  history,  in  any  true  sense, 
involves  processes  as  well  as  a  body  of  facts.  To  learn 
facts  alone  is  in  no  real  sense  to  learn  history ;  to  ex- 
amine in  facts  alone  is  in  no  real  sense  to  examine  in 
history.  This  has  been  generally  recognized  and  em- 
phasized in  discussions  of  the  amis  and  values  of  history 
teaching.  But  in  practice  history  has  fallen  so  far  below 
the  professions  made  for  it  that  it  is  now  barely  tolerated 
by  many  educational  critics  and  administrators,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  some  danger  of  being  reduced  to  a  posi- 
tion even  lower  than  the  relatively  low  position  which  it 
now  holds  in  the  curriculum. 

If  history  is  to  be  an  instrument  of  training  and  cul- 
ture, it  must  be  used  in  school  as  an  instrument  of  train- 
ing and  culture.  There  must  always  be  facts,  but  facts, 
as  has  been  repeatedly  intimated,  should  be  reduced  in 
number  and  expanded  in  content  to  the  point  of  becom- 


428  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

ing  really  intelligible.  They  should  be  so  definitely  in- 
dicated by  examiners  as  to  remove  the  present  anxiety 
to  "get  up"  everything  for  the  examination.  The  mem- 
ory test  should  not  be  allowed  to  dominate  the  history 
examination.  It  is,  indeed,  doubtful  if  more  than  a 
fourth,  or  perhaps  a  third,  of  the  examination  should  be 
devoted  to  tests  of  ability  to  remember.  The  remainder 
of  the  paper  could  then  be  devoted  to  tests  of  ability  to 
do :  to  interpret  a  map  or  picture ;  to  analyze  a  paragraph 
or  a  page  of  history ;  to  find  materials  on  a  given  topic ;  to 
solve  by  use  of  given  materials  a  simple  problem  in  criti- 
cism ;  to  recognize  in  given  facts  diff ering  degrees  of  prob- 
ability ;  to  judge  from  a  given  description  some  histori- 
cal character ;  to  discover  in  given  conditions,  past  and 
present,  resemblances,  differences,  relations,  tendencies; 
to  organize  a  given  collection  of  facts ;  to  select  from  the 
work  of  a  term  or  a  year,  facts  of  special  importance 
and  to  explain  why  they  are  important.  The  general 
character  of  the  possibilities  has  been  indicated  in  the 
body  of  the  present  volume  in  discussing  the  possibilities 
of  history  teaching,  and  should  be  fairly  clear  to  any 
teacher  who  has  thought  of  the  study  of  history  as  the 
learning  and  application  of  processes  and  not  merely  as 
the  learning  of  facts.  The  following  exercises  are  offered 
as  illustrations  of  possible  modes  of  procedure. 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  429 

MAP   INTERPRETATION 

Place  before  a  class  the  physical  map  found  in  Shep- 
herd's Historical  Atlas,  pp.  2-3,  or  some  other  map  of  the 
same  type,  and  give  the  following  directions : 

1.  Estimate  from  the  map  the  Ijeight  above  sea  level 
of  the  central  plain  of  England.     Compare  with  the 
height  of  some  object  with  which  you  are  familiar. 

2.  Estimate  from  the  map  the  distance  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Seine  to  the  Pyrenees  Mountains.     Compare  with 
some  distance  which  you  have  actually  traveled. 

3.  Estimate  from  the  map  the  area  in  square  miles  of 
the  Iberian  Peninsula.     Compare  with  the  area  of  some 
region  which  you  can  really  see  when  you  close  your  eyes 
and  think  about  it. 

COMPARISON  AND  APPRECIATION 

"In  the  same  winter,"  says  Thucydides,  writing  of  the 
Peloponnesian  War,  "the  Athenians  gave  a  funeral  at 
the  public  cost  to  those  who  had  first  fallen  in  this  war." 
Pericles  was  chosen  as  the  orator.  In  the  address 
attributed  to  him  by  Thucydides  he  exhibits  some  reluc- 
tance to  speak. 

"For  myself,"  he  says,  "I  should  have  thought  that  the  worth 
which  had  displayed  itself  in  deeds  would  have  been  sufficiently 
rewarded  by  honours,  also  shown  by  deeds ;  such  as  you  now  see 
in  this  funeral  prepared  at  the  people's  cost.  And  I  could  have 


430  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

wished  that  the  reputation  of  many  brave  men  were  not  to  be 
imperilled  in  the  mouth  of  a  single  individual,  to  stand  or  fall 
according  as  he  spoke  well  or  ill.  ...  However,  since  our  ances- 
tors have  stamped  this  custom  with  their  approval,  it  becomes  my 
duty  to  obey  the  law  and  to  try  to  satisfy  your  several  wishes 
and  opinions  as  best  I  may." 

After  describing  the  greatness  and  glory  of  Athens  and 
the  sacrifice  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  her  cause,  he  con- 
tinues : 

"  So  died  these  men  as  became  Athenians.  You,  their  survivors, 
must  determine  to  have  as  unfaltering  a  resolution  in  the  field, 
though  you  may  pray  that  it  may  have  a  happier  issue.  And  not 
contented  with  a  mere  hearsay  notion  of  the  advantages  which 
are  involved  in  the  defence  of  your  country,  though  these  would 
furnish  a  valuable  text  to  a  speaker  even  before  an  audience 
so  alive  to  them  as  the  present,  you  must  yourselves  realise  the 
power  of  Athens,  and  feed  your  eyes  upon  her  from  day  to  day, 
till  love  of  her  fills  your  hearts ;  and  then  when  all  her  greatness 
shall  break  upon  you,  you  must  reflect  that  it  was  by  courage, 
sense  of  duty,  and  a  keen  feeling  of  honour  in  action  that  men 
were  enabled  to  acquire  it,  and  that  no  personal  failure  in  an 
enterprise  could  make  them  consent  to  deprive  their  country  of 
their  valour,  but  they  laid  it  at  her  feet  as  the  most  glorious  con- 
tribution that  they  could  offer.  For  this  offering  of  their  lives 
made  in  common  by  them  all  they  each  of  them  individually  re- 
ceived that  renown  which  never  grows  old,  and  for  a  sepulchre, 
not  so  much  that  in  which  their  bones  have  been  deposited,  but 
that  noblest  of  shrines  wherein  their  glory  is  laid  up  to  be  eternally 
remembered  upon  every  occasion  on  which  deed  or  story  shall 
call  for  its  commemoration.  For  heroes  have  the  whole  earth 


THE   HISTORY  EXAMINATION  431 

for  their  tomb ;  and  in  lands  far  from  their  own,  where  the  column 
with  its  epitaph  declares  it,  there  is  enshrined  in  every  breast  a 
record  unwritten  with  no  tablet  to  preserve  it,  except  that  of  the 
heart." » 

Lincoln  in  his  world-famed  address  at  Gettysburg  in 
1863  said: 

"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  upon 
this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated 
to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

"  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that 
nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure. 
We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting  place  for  those 
who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  alto- 
gether fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

"  But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate, 
we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead, 
who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor  long  remember  what 
we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is 
for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished 
work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so. nobly  ad- 
vanced. It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task 
remaining  before  us;  that  from  these  honoured  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation,  under  God, 
shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth." 

1  Thucydides,  II,  35-44,  Crawley's  translation. 


432  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

1.  Find  the  differences  and  resemblances  in  the  senti- 
ments expressed  and  the  kind  of  appeal  made  to  the  audi- 
ence in  these  two  speeches. 

2.  Is  there  any  sentiment  expressed  by  Pericles  which 
would  not  have  been  suitable  at  Gettysburg?     If  so, 
indicate  what  it  is. 

3.  Is  there  any  sentiment  expressed  by  Lincoln  which 
would  not  have  been  suitable  at  Athens  ?    If  so,  indicate 
what  it  is. 

4.  What  comment  is  suggested  by  your  answers  to  2 
and  3? 

THE   DETERMINATION  OF  FACTS 

In  1822,  John  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  Timothy  Pickering, 
gave  an  account  of  the  drafting  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  The  letter  is  printed  in  Randall's  Life 
of  Thomas  Jefferson  as  follows  : 

"The  Committee  met,  discussed  the  subject,  and  then  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Jefferson  and  me  to  make  the  draft,  I  suppose  because 
we  were  the  two  first  on  the  list.  The  sub-committee  met.  Jeffer- 
son proposed  to  me  to  make  the  draft.  I  said,  'I  will  not.'  'You 
should  do  it.'  'Oh!  no.'  'Why  will  you  not?  You  ought  to 
do  it.'  'I  will  not.'  'Why?'  'Reasons  enough.'  'What  can 
be  your  reasons?'  'Reason  first  —  You  are  a  Virginian,  and  a 
Virginian  ought  to  appear  at  the  head  of  this  business.  Reason 
second  —  I  am  obnoxious,  suspected,  and  unpopular.  You  are 
very  much  otherwise.  Reason  third  —  You  can  write  ten  times 
better  than  I  can.'  'Well,'  said  Jefferson,  'if  you  are  decided,  I 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  433 

will  do  as  well  as  I  can.'  'Very  well.  When  you  have  drawn  it 
up,  we  will  have  a  meeting.'  A  meeting  we  accordingly  had,  and 
conned  the  paper  over.  [After  stating  what  he  really  liked  and 
disliked  in  it,  Mr.  Adams  proceeds :]  I  consented  to  report  it,  and 
do  not  now  remember  that  I  made  or  suggested  a  single  alteration. 
We  reported  it  to  the  Committee  of  five.  It  was  read,  and  I  do 
not  remember  that  Franklin  nor  Sherman  criticised  anything.  We 
were  all  in  haste.  Congress  was  impatient,  and  the  instrument  was 
reported,  as  I  believe,  in  Jefferson's  handwriting,  as  he  first  drew  it." 

"This  statement,"  says  Randall,  "was  published  in 
1823,  and  Jefferson  soon  after  (August  3oth)  wrote  Mr. 
Madison : 

"...  Mr.  Adams's  memory  has  led  him  into  unquestion- 
able error.  At  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  and  forty-seven  years  after 
the  transactions  of  Independence,  this  is  not  wonderful.  Nor 
should  I,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  the  small  advantage  of  that  difference 
only,  venture  to  oppose  my  memory  to  his,  were  it  not  supported 
by  written  notes,  taken  by  myself  at  the  moment  and  on  the  spot." 
[After  giving  the  substance  of  Mr.  Adams's  statement,  he  con- 
tinues:] "Now  these  details  are  quite  incorrect.  The  Committee 
of  five  met ;  no  such  thing  as  a  sub-committee  was  proposed,  but 
they  unanimously  pressed  on  myself  alone  to  undertake  the  draft. 
I  consented ;  I  drew  it ;  but  before  I  reported  it  to  the  Committee, 
I  communicated  it  separately  to  Doctor  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams, 
requesting  their  corrections,  because  they  were  the  two  members 
of  whose  judgments  and  amendments  I  wished  most  to  have  the 
benefit,  before  presenting  it  to  the  Committee:  and  you  have 
seen  the  original  paper  now  in  my  hands,  with  the  corrections  of 
Doctor  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams  interlined  in  their  own  hand- 
writings. Their  alterations  were  two  or  three  only,  and  merely 
verbal.  I  then  wrote  a  fair  copy,  reported  it  to  the  Committee, 

2  W 


434  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

and  from  them,  unaltered,  to  Congress.  This  personal  communi- 
cation and  consultation  with  Mr.  Adams,  he  has  misremembered 
into  the  actings  of  a  sub-committee." 

The  "notes"  to  which  Jefferson  refers  contain  the  fol- 
lowing statements : 

"The  Committee  were  John  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin,  Roger  Sher- 
man, Robert  R.  Livingston  and  myself.  .  .  .  The  Committee  for 
drawing  the  Declaration  of  Independence  desired  me  to  do  it.  It  was 
accordingly  done,  and  being  approved  by  them,  I  reported  it  to  the 
House  on  Friday,  the  28th  of  June,  when  it  was  read  and  ordered 
to  lie  on  the  table." l 

1.  What  facts  do  you  consider  established  by  these 
two  letters  and  Jefferson's  notes? 

2.  Give  your  reasons. 

THE  RECOGNITION  OF  DEGREES   OF   PROBABILITY 

The  following  statements  relate  to  the  Webster-Hayne 
debate : 

1.  "Desiring  to  know  how  the  country  would  receive  the 
bare  doctrine  of  nullification,  Senator  Hayne  was  put  forward 
to  deliver  the  prologue,  but  Calhoun  was  the  prompter  behind  the 
scenes." 

2.  "Hayne  asserted  that,  in  case  of  a  palpable  violation  of  the 
Constitution  by  the  general  government,  a  State  may  interpose 
its  veto." 

3.  "The  Senator's  speeches  were  not  remarkable,  and  would 
never  have  been  remembered,  had  not  his  most  labored  effort 

1  Randall,  Life  of  Thomas  Je/erson,  I,  165-166. 


THE   HISTORY   EXAMINATION  435 

given  Webster  the  occasion  for  one  of  those  rare  bursts  of  eloquence 
that  astonish  and  delight  the  world." 

4.  "Webster's  oration  itself  is  familiar  to  students  of  Ameri- 
can history,  to  lovers  of  English  literature,  and  to  all  those  whose 
admiration  is  kindled  by  eloquence  in  any  tongues." 

(A)  Indicate  the  kinds  of  sources  that  you  would  use 
in  determining  the  truth  or  falsity  of  each  of  the  above 
statements. 

(.B)  Which  of  the  statements  admits  most  readily  of 
proof  or  disproof  ?  Why  ? 

(C)  Which  of  the  statements  do  you  consider  the  most 
difficult  to  prove  or  disprove  ?  Why  ? 

SELECTION   OF  MATERIAL 

Two  or  three  weeks  before  the  examination  assign  to 
the  class  eight  or  ten  general  topics  covering  the  signifi- 
cant parts  of  the  work  of  the  term  or  the  year.  Give 
the  following  directions : 

1 .  Write  out  for  each  topic  one  question  that  seems  to 
you  of  special  importance. 

2.  Be  prepared  to  answer*  definitely  your  own  ques- 
tions. 

In  the  examination  period  inform  the  class  that  the 
questions  which  they  have  framed  are  to  count  as  one 
question  in  the  examination,  and  that  as  another  part 
of  the  examination  they  are  to  answer  any  two  of  their 
own  questions. 


436  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

Or  assign  a  smaller  number  of  topics  and  have  the 
questions  prepared  in  the  examination  period.  The  fol- 
lowing may,  for  example,  constitute  part  of  an  examina- 
tion in  English  history. 

1.  Prepare  on  each  of  the  following  topics  one  ques- 
tion that  seems  to  you  of  special  importance :   England 
under  the  Normans ;  the  personal  monarchy  of  the  early 
Stuarts;    the  foundation  of  the  British  Empire,  1689- 
1763  ;   the  period  of  reform,  1815-1852. 

2.  Enter  all  the  questions  in  your  paper. 

3.  Answer  any  two  of  your  own  questions. 
Examination  along  the  lines  here  indicated  is  of  course 

unfair  to  pupils  accustomed  merely  to  learn  and  to 
recite  facts.  The  teacher  may  in  such  cases  predict  with 
confidence  that  the  results  will  approximate  zero.  High 
school  classes  fairly  proficient  in  pointing  at  maps,  and 
in  filling  in  dots  and  lines  to  indicate  places  and  bounda- 
ries, have  repeatedly  answered  with  a  blank  stare  when 
asked  to  estimate,  from  a  map,  elevation,  extent,  or  area. 
Students  still  more  advanced  have  repeatedly  handed  in 
blank  papers  when  asked  to  use  a  little  discrimination  in 
weighing  the  probability  of  facts.  But  the  principles 
have  been  found  applicable  as  early  as  the  sixth  grade 
in  testing  classes  trained  to  interpret  maps  and  to  think 
a  little  about  the  difference  between  proving  a  motive 
and  proving  what  was  said  in  a  speech.  Exercises  of  all 


THE    HISTORY   EXAMINATION  437 

the  types  that  have  been  illustrated,  and  of  all  the  other 
types  suggested  above  in  enumerating  possibilities,  can 
be  adapted  even  to  the  elementary  school.  It  requires, 
to  be  sure,  something  more  than  a  knowledge  of  text- 
books to  frame  them.  It  takes  more  time  for  a  pupil 
to  work  them  out  than  to  answer  memory  questions. 
But,  for  teachers  in  control  of  examinations  and  free  to 
teach  history  as  something  more  than  facts  to  be  memo- 
rized, there  are  so  many  opportunities  in  connection  with 
the  daily  lessons  to  try  the  general  processes  that  the 
problem  is  half  solved  by  the  mere  act  of  consciously 
facing  it. 

For  those  who  must  prepare  for  examinations  from 
without,  given  by  state,  or  college,  or  other  authorities, 
the  problem  is  more  difficult.  Few  of  the  facts  packed 
into  the  traditional  textbook  seem  to  be  exempt  from 
such  examinations,  and  the  only  safe  procedure  may  well 
seem  to  be  to  pack  all  of  the  textbook  facts  into  the 
minds  of  the  pupils.  But  even  granting  this  dreary  ne- 
cessity, it  is  still  possible  to  meet  the  conditions  without 
forgetting  altogether  that  history  should  be  an  instru- 
ment of  training  and  of  culture.  Indeed,  the  best  guar- 
antee of  that  temporary  memory  of  facts  which  examiners 
so  generally  seem  to  expect  is  to  teach  at  least  some  of 
the  facts  intelligently.  At  the  worst,  the  teacher  can 
teach  history  six  or  seven  of  the  nine  or  ten  months  of  the 


438  TEACHING   OF    HISTORY 

school  year  and  devote  the  remaining  months  to  a  con- 
scientious cram  for  the  examination.  The  cram,  while 
not  an  ideal  mode  of  "getting  up"  history,  has  uses  be- 
yond the  passing  of  examinations.  So  much  of  success  in 
business  and  in  the  professions  depends  upon  the  ability 
to  "get  up"  facts  quickly,  and  to  hold  them  clearly  for 
some  temporary  purpose,  that  there  is  something  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  cultivating  the  ability  in  school.  It  is 
in  any  event  better  to  reduce  history  to  a  grind  for  a  few 
months  than  to  keep  it  a  grind  throughout  the  year. 

Teachers  must  prepare  for  examinations;  examiners 
must  adapt  their  questions  to  existing  systems  of  teach- 
ing. Better  teaching  will  be  followed  by  better  exami- 
nations; better  examinations  will  be  followed  by  bet- 
ter teaching.  But  who  shall  break  the  vicious  circle? 
Teachers  blame  examiners,  examiners  blame  teachers, 
and  both  blame  the  situation.  This  relieves  to  some 
extent  the  emotions;  it  does  not  relieve  the  situation. 
There  is  need  on  both  sides  of  more  courage  and  more 
faith.  Competent  teachers,  who  find  that  they  can  teach 
history  and  still  prepare  for  examinations,  have  a  right  to 
demand  of  examiners  questions  designed  to  furnish  a  more 
adequate  test  of  sound  instruction.  Examiners  have  a 
right  to  assume  sound  instruction.  Incompetent  teachers 
have  a  right  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  standards  of 
sound  instruction  or  to  seek  more  congenial  occupation. 


APPENDIX   I 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  HISTORY  TEACHING 

A  bibliography  of  the  study  and  teaching  of  history.  Compiled 
by  James  Ingersoll  Wyer.  Annual  Report  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  1899,  pp.  561-612.  Prepared  for  the 
Committee  of  Seven.  The  part  in  which  "the  pedagogical 
point  of  view  is  given  first  place"  contains  references  to  judiciously 
selected  books  and  articles  on  the  teaching  of  history  in  France, 
Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  United  States.  Valuable  chiefly 
for  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  earlier  period 
receives  scant  attention. 

The  following  brief  list  contains  titles  not  cited  by  Wyer,  and 
is  designed  merely  to  furnish  some  further  indication  of  materials 
for  a  study  of  conditions  in  Europe  before  1850.  Russell's  articles, 
cited  farther  on  (p.  461),  contain  references  to  materials  for  a  study 
of  early  conditions  in  the  United  States. 
Succinitz  adversaires  de  Charles  de  la  Rvelle  escvyer,  Sieur  de  Mauault, 

Preuost  d 'Hostel  du  Roy  au  voyage  de  Potogne,  Contre  VHistoire 

et  professeurs  d'icelle.    Au  roy  de  France  et  de  Poloignet  Henry 

III.  de  ce  nom.     Poitiers,  1574. 
Jo.  Mich.  Bruti  de  historic  laudibus,  ad  Stephanum  Polonorum 

regem.     1578. 
Institutionum  Antiquitatis  et  Historiarum  Pars  prima  in  II.  VI. 

distributa.    Scripta    a    M.    Andrea    Franckenbergero.    Wite- 

bergae,  1586. 

Joh.  Bernati,  de  UtUitate  legenda  historic.    Antverp.,  1593. 

439 


44°  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

Synopsis  Historiarum  et  methodus  nova,  etc.,  auctore  J.  Jacobo 
Beurero.  Hanoviae,  1594. 

J.  Bodini  methodus  ad  facilem  Historiarum  cognitionem.  Amste- 
lodami,  1650.  (First  published  in  1566.) 

De  I'usage  de  Vhistoire.    A  Wezel,  1673. 

De  Vhistoire,  Par  le  Pere  le  Moyne,  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus. 
Paris,  1680. 

Coustel,  Pierre.  Les  regies  de  Veducation  des  enfants,  oil  il  est 
parle  en  detail  de  la  maniere  dont  il  se  faut  conduire,  pour 
leur  inspirer  les  sentiments  d'une  solide  piete;  et  pour  leur 
apprendre  parfaitement  les  belles  lettres.  Two  volumes. 
Paris,  1687. 

DANZ,  I.  T.  L.  Ueber  den  methodischen  Unterricht  in  der  Geschichte 
auf  Schulen.  Leipzig,  1798. 

Rims,  FR.  Entwurf  einer  Propddeutik  des  historischen  Studiums. 
Berlin,  1811. 

SCHOMANN,  G.  Ueber  den  Vortrag  der  Geschichte  auf  Schulen. 
Greifswalde,  1814. 

GUNTHER,  FR.  Ueber  den  historisch-geographischen  Unterricht  auf 
hoheren  Schulen.  Leipzig,  1815. 

BOCLO,  LUDWIG.  Ueber  die  Wichtigkeit  des  Studiums  der  Geschichte 
auf  Schulen.  Hannover,  1818. 

KOHLRAUSCH,  FRIEDRICH.  Bemerkungen  uber  die  Stufenfolge  des 
Geschichtsunterrichts  in  den  hoheren  Schulen.  Berlin,  1818. 

BRIEGLEB,  AUG.  Ueber  die  N  otwendigkeit  des  Geschichtsunterrichts 
in  gelehrten  BUdungsanstalten.  Eisenach,  1819. 

MULLER,  KARL  AUGUST.  Ueber  den  Geschichtsunterricht  auf  Schu- 
len. Dresden,  1835.  Includes  an  interesting  bibliography. 

REINBLOTT,  HEIN.  AUG.  Ueber  die  Methode  des  Geschichtsunterrichts, 
besonders  in  Beziehung  auf  Fr.  Kapp's  Vorschlage  fiir  die 
Behandlung  dieses  Unterrichtsgegenstandes.  Rheinische  Blatter 
fUr  Erziehung  und  Unterricht.  1835.  Heft  2,  pp.  153-166. 


APPENDIX   I  441 

KILIAN,  M.     Tableau   historique   de  ^instruction    secondaire   en 

France,  depuis  les  temps  Us  plus  recules  jusqu'd  nos  jours, 

Paris,  1841. 
VOIGTLAND,  FRIEDRICH.     Ueber  den  historischen   Unterricht  auj 

Gymnasien.    J ahresbericht  des  Gymnasiums  zu  Schleusingen. 

1841. 
VALLET    DE    VIRTVILLE.    Histoire   de   ^instruction    publique    en 

Europe,  et  principalement  en  France,  depuis  le  Christianisme 

jusqu'd  nos  jours.    Paris,  1849. 
KAY,  JOSEPH.     The  social  condition  and  education  of  the  people  in 

England  and  Europe.    Two  volumes.    London,  1850. 
RATTIG,  KARL  HERM.    Ueber  die  Wahl  des  historischen  Stoffes 

fur  den  Gymnasialunterricht.    Zu  der  offentlichen  Prufung 

in  dem  Gymnasium  Carolinum.    Neu-Strelitz,  1850. 
MUNSCHER,    FRIEDRICH.    Abhandlung    ueber    den    Geschichts- 

Unterricht  auf  Gymnasien.    Zu  der  ojfentlichen  Prufung  der 

Schuler  des  Kurfurstlichen  Gymnasiums  zu  Marburg.     1853.  * 
THERY,  A.  F.    Histoire  de  V education  en  France  depuis  le  Ve  siecle 

jusqu'd  nos  jours.    Two  volumes.     Paris,  1 86 1. 
COMPAYRE,  GABRIEL.    Histoire  critique  des  doctrines  de  V education 

en  France  depuis  le  seizieme  siecle.    Two  volumes.    Paris,  1885. 
GREARD,    OCTAVE.    Education    et    instruction.    Two    volumes. 

Paris,  1889. 
GALLANDT,  JULIUS.    Ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des  Geschichts- 

Unterrichts  im  Zeitalter  der  deutschen  A ufklarung.    Berlin,  1000. 
OTTELIN,  A.  K.    Herbartiansk  historieundermssning.    Helsuigfors, 

1908. 
REDJ,   CARL.    Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts.    Halle,   1911. 

pp.  176-216. 
SILVY,  A.    Essai  d'une  bibliographic  historique  de  Venseignement 

secondaire  et  superieur  en  France  avant  la  revolution.    Paris, 

no  date. 


442  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

CURRENT  DISCUSSION 

The  History  Teacher's  Magazine.  Founded  in  1909  and  now  edited 
under  the  supervision  of  a  committee  of  the  American  His- 
torical Association.  A.  E.  McKinley,  managing  editor. 
Monthly,  except  July  and  August.  McKinley  Publishing 
Company,  Philadelphia.  Annual  subscription,  $2.  Indis- 
pensable. 

Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart.  Zeitschrift  fiir  den  Geschichtsunter- 
richt  und  Staatsbiirgerliche  Erziehung  in  alien  Schulgattungen. 
Herausgeber. :  DR.  FRITZ  FRIEDRICH  und  DR.  PAUL  RUHL- 
MANN.  Founded  in  1911.  Published  by  G.  B.  Teubner, 
Leipzig.  Six  numbers  yearly.  Annual  subscription,  $1.50. 
(M.  6.)  The  most  valuable  record  of  European  ideas  and 
practice. 

History.  A  quarterly  magazine  for  the  student  and  the  expert. 
Edited  by  Harold  F.  B.  Wheeler.  London,  i  New  Court, 
Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C.  Annual  subscription,  4  shillings. 
Founded  in  1912.  Contains  some  articles  on  the  teaching  of 
history. 


APPENDIX   II 
GUIDES  TO  HISTORICAL  LITERATURE 

MINIMUM  COLLECTION 

ANDREWS,  C.  M.,  GAMBRILL,  J.  M.,  and  TALL,  LIDA  LEE.  Bibliog- 
raphy of  history  for  schools  and  libraries.  New  York,  1910. 
A  brief  annotated  guide  to  works  on  the  study  and  teaching 
of  history,  world  histories,  histories  of  special  countries, 
historical  stories  for  the  elementary  school,  and  stories  for 
children  preparatory  to  history.  The  most  serviceable 
general  guide  for  teachers. 

A  history  syllabus  for  secondary  schools.  Prepared  by  a  special 
committee  of  the  New  England  History  Teachers'  Associa- 
tion. Boston,  1004.  Outlines  the  four  years'  course  recom- 
mended by  the  Committee  of  Seven.  Suggests  collections 
of  books  for  each  of  the  four  fields  and  lists  specific  references 
for  topics  in  each  field. 

Historical  sources  in  school.  Report  to  the  New  England  History 
Teachers'  Association  by  a  select  committee.  New  York, 
1 002.  Covers  the  four  fields  recommended  by  the  Committee 
of  Seven.  Description  and  criticism  of  the  most  important 
sources  available  for  schools. 

A  BRIEF  LIST  OF  STANDARD  GUIDES 

LANGLOIS,   CH.   V.    Manuel  de  bibliographic  historique.    In  two 
parts.     Part  I:    Instruments  bibliographiques.     Second  edi- 
tion,  Paris,    1901.    Part   II:    Histoire  et  organisation  des 
443 


444  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

ttuaes  historiques.  Paris,  1904.  Description  and  appraisal 
of  historical  bibliographies.  Covers  the  entire  field. 

ANCIENT  HISTORY  TO  375  A.D.  WACHSMUTH,  CURT.  Einleitung 
in  das  Studium  der  alien  Geschichte.  Leipzig,  1895.  Lists 
original  sources  and  critical  studies  of  original  sources. 

THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  POTTHAST,  A.  Bibliotheca  historica  medii 
eevi.  Wegweiser  durch  die  Geschichtswerke  des  europaischen 
MUtelalters  bis  1500.  Two  volumes.  Berlin,  1895-1896. 

GERMANY  TO  1888.  DAHLMANN-WAITZ.  Quellenkunde  der 
deutschen  Geschichte.  Quellen  und  Bearbeitungen,  systematisch 
und  chronologisch  Verzeichnet.  Sixth  edition.  Gottingen, 
1894. 

FRANCE  TO  1789.  MONOD,  G.  Bibliographic  de  I'histoire  de 
France.  Paris,  1888.  Follows  the  plan  of  Dahlmann-Waitz. 

ENGLAND.  GARDINER,  S.  R.,  and  MULLINGER,  J.  B.  Introduction 
to  the  study  of  English  history.  London,  1894.  Part  II : 
Authorities.  Classified  as  contemporary,  non-contemporary, 
and  modern  writers.  Indicates  the  chief  collections  of 
sources. 

GROSS,  CHARLES.  The  sources  and  literature  of  English  history 
from  the  earliest  times  to  about  1485.  London,  1900. 

THE  UNITED  STATES.  LARNED,  J.  N.,  Editor.  The  literature  of 
American  history.  A.  L.  A.  annotated  guide.  Boston,  1902. 
"A  bibliographical  guide  in  which  the  scope,  character,  and 
comparative  worth  of  books  in  selected  lists  are  set  forth  in 
brief  notes  by  critics  of  authority."  Boston,  1902.  And 
supplements  issued  by  the  American  Library  Association. 

CHANNING,  E.,  HART,  A.  B.,  and  TURNER,  F.  J.  Guide  to  the 
study  and  reading  of  American  history.  Boston,  191 2.  Classi- 
fied lists,  and  a  topical  analysis  of  American  history  with 
specific  references.  The  most  comprehensive  guide  to 
American  history. 


APPENDIX  n  445 

IMPORTANT  PERIODICALS 

Historische  Zeitschrift.    Leipzig.    Founded  in   1859.    Quarterly, 

1859-1876.    Bimonthly  since  1877. 
Revue  Historique.     Paris.     Founded  in   1876.    Bimonthly  since 

1877. 
English  Historical  Review.    London.    Founded  in   1886.    New 

York,  Longmans,  Green,  &  Company.    Quarterly. 
American   Historical   Review.    Founded    in    1895.    New    York, 

Macmillan  Company.    Quarterly. 


APPENDIX   III 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  ILLUSTRATIVE   MATERIAL 

Materials  listed  below  can  be  ordered  through  any  dealer  in 
foreign  books. 

Illustrierter  Lehrmittel-Katalog.  Verzeichnis  der  neuesten,  besten 
und  bewahrtesten  Anschauungs-  und  Lehrmittel.  Leipzig.  K. 
F.  Koehler.  Furnished  only  to  dealers,  50  cents.  From 
dealers  in  the  United  States,  about  $i.  An  invaluable  guide 
to  German  materials. 

Lehrmittel  fur  den  Geschichtsunterricht.  Wandtafeln  u.  Modette 
zur  Veranschaulichung  des  Lebens  der  Griechen  und  Romer. 
A.  Pichlers  Witwe  &  Sohn.  Vienna.  A  circular  descriptive 
of  Gall  and  Rebhann  models  and  wall  pictures.  Gratis. 

Stofflehrmittel  fur  den  Geschichtsunterricht.  Modelle  zur  Vater- 
landischen  Kulturgeschichte.  Modelle  zur  antiken  Kultur- 
geschichte.  Friedrich  Rausch,  Nordhausen  a.  Harz.  Cir- 
culars descriptive  of  the  Rausch,  and  Blumner  and  Rausch, 
models.  Gratis. 

Minister e  de  I }  instruction  publique  et  des  beaux-arts.  Archives  de 
La  Commission  des  Monuments  Historique.  Paris,  1904. 
Can  be  obtained  from  E.  Hautecceur,  35  Avenue  de  1'Opera, 
Paris.  Classified  lists  of  photographs. 

COULOMB,  C.  A.  Aids  to  the  visualization  of  history.  Reprint 
from  History  Teacher's  Magazine,  February,  1910.  McKin- 
ley  Publishing  Company,  Philadelphia.  15  cents.  Descrip- 
tion of  exhibit  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
446 


APPENDIX    III  447 

New  York,  1909.  Materials  in  the  Teachers  College  collec- 
tion. Classified  lists  and  prices. 

Catalogue  of  material  collected  by  the  New  England  History 
Teachers'  Association.  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston, 
1912.  50  cents.  Classified  lists  and  prices. 

McKiNLEY,  A.  E.  Illustrative  material  for  history  classes. 
History  Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  158-168.  Lists  of  dealers 
and  publishers,  with  description  of  materials  and  of  catalogues. 

Historical  Association  Leaflets,  Nos.  12,  13.  London,  1908. 
Portraits  and  lantern  slides,  chiefly  for  British  and  modern 
history.  Historical  maps  and  atlases. 

A.  L.  A.  Portrait  Index.  Washington,  1906.  Index  to  portraits 
contained  in  printed  books  and  periodicals. 

SUGGESTIONS     FOR     A     SMALL     COLLECTION     OF 
FOREIGN  MATERIAL 

MODELS 

Roman  house,  Hensell.  $12.  Or,  Roman  house,  Bliimner  and 
Rausch.  $15.  Larger  and  more  elaborate  than  the  Hensell 
model. 

Hensell  lay  figure  for  displaying  Greek  and  Roman  costumes. 
About  4  ft.  high.  $18.  Costumes,  complete,  $28.  Articles 
can  be  purchased  separately.  Roman  toga,  $6.75.  Or, 
Bliimner  and  Rausch  lay  figure.  $45.  Life  size.  Costumes, 
$54.50.  Articles  can  be  purchased  separately.  Roman  toga, 

$9- 

Gall  and  Rebhann  loom.    $4.25. 
Models  of   Greek  and  Roman  coins,   56  pieces.    $18.    K.   F. 

Koehler. 
Groups  of  Rausch  models.    Can  be  ordered  by  group  numbers. 

Any  article  also  sold  separately. 


448  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

Group  I.  Plants  and  agricultural  implements,  13  pieces. 
$20. 

Group  III.    Linen  manufacturing,  15  pieces.    $37.50. 
Group    V.    Fire    and    lighting    apparatus,    15    pieces. 

$18.75- 

Group  XII.  Mediaeval  inventions,  4  pieces.  $12. 
Includes  Gutenberg  printing  press. 

WALL  PICTURES 

CYBULSKI.    Tabulae    quibus    antiquitates    Graecae    et    Romans 
illustrantur.    In  colors. 

Greek  house.    $i.    Descriptive  text,  25  cents. 

Roman  house.    $i.     Descriptive  text,  25  cents. 

Costumes  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  5  pictures,  each  $i. 

Descriptive  text,  40  cents. 

LEHMANN.    Kulturgeschichtliche  Bilder  fur  den  Schulunterricht. 
Paper,  mounted,  each  70  cents.     In  colors. 

Cloister,  loth  century. 

Castle,  1 3th  century. 

Interior  of  castle,  i3th  century. 

Interior  of  city,  i5th  century.  ; 

Interior  of  town  house,  i6th  century. 

Peasants,  etc.,  i6th  century. 

Rococo  scene,  i8th  century. 

Mediaeval  manuscripts. 

Examples  of  early  printing. 

Descriptive  text  and  comment:  HEYMANN  und  UEBEL. 
A  us  Vergangenen  Tagen.  Bound,  $1.15.  Same  authors: 
Aus  dem  Schriftwesen  des  Mittdalters.  Pamphlet.  30 
cents. 


APPENDIX  m  449 

HISTORICAL  ALBUMS 

CYBTJLSKI.    Die  Kultur  der  Griechen  und  Romer.    Bilder- Atlas  mit 

erlauterndem  Texte.  Bound,  $i. 
FOUGERES,  G.  La  vie  privee  et  publique  des  Grecs  et  des  Remains. 

Hachette,  Paris.  Bound,  $2.40. 
LAVISSE  et  PARMENTIER.  Album  historique.  Colin,  Paris.  4  Vols. 

Bound,  $16. 

MAPS 

SCHREIBER.  Wandtafel  zur  Veranschaulichung  geographischer 
Grundbegriffe.  Mounted,  $1.15.  Descriptive  text,  10  cents. 

VIDAL-LABLACHE.  Cartes  murales.  Colin,  Paris.  Double-faced, 
each  $1.30.  Descriptive  text,  questions,  and  answers,  for 
each  map,  8  cents.1 

1  The  prices  quoted  for  the  above  collection  are  list  prices  in  Europe.     Those 
who  order  through  American  dealers  must  expect  to  pay  from  25  to  100  per  cent 


APPENDIX   IV 
SELECTED  REFERENCES 

CHAPTER  I 

WHAT  HISTORY  IS 
METHODOLOGY 

BERNHEIM,  ERNST.  Lehrbuch  der  historischen  Methode  und  der 
Geschichtsphilosophie.  Leipzig,  1908.  Sixth  edition.  The 
standard  treatise.  See  especially  Chap,  i,  sections  i  and  6; 
Chap.  3,  sections  i  and  2 ;  and  Chap.  6. 

BERNHEIM,  ERNST.  Einleitung  in  die  Geschichtswissenschaft. 
Leipzig,  1905.  A  brief  summary  of  the  Lehrbuch.  See  es- 
pecially pp.  5-13,  33-43,  72-78,  113-134- 

LANGLOIS,  CH.  V.,  and  SEIGNOBOS,  CH.  Introduction  aux  Etudes 
historiques.  Paris,  1005.  (First  published,  1897.) 

LANGLOIS,  CH.  V.,  and  SEIGNOBOS,  CH.  Introduction  to  the  study 
of  history.  New  York,  1903.  Translation  by  G.  B.  Berry. 
A  clear  statement  of  the  conditions  and  methods  of  historical 
study.  See  especially  Book  II,  Chap,  i ;  Book  IH,  Chaps. 
1,5;  and  the  Conclusion. 

FLING,  F.  M.  Outline  of  historical  method.  Lincoln,  1899.  Out- 
lines "the  substance  of  the  method  of  historical  research  as 
found  in  the  works  of  Bernheim,  and  Langlois  and  Seignobos." 
Contains  comment  of  special  interest  to  teachers. 

•RICKERT,  HEINRICH.  Die  Grenzen  der  naturwissenschaftlichen 
Begriffsbildung.  Leipzig,  1902.  Draws  a  suggestive  dis- 
450 


APPENDIX   IV  451 

tinction  between  the  historical  method  and  the  method  of  the 
natural  sciences.  See  especially  Chap.  Ill,  section  4.  This 
book  is  admirably  summarized  by  F.  M.  Fling  in  an  article 
on  Historical  Synthesis,  American  Historical  Review,  IX,  1-22. 
VINCENT,  J.  M.  Historical  research.  An  outline  of  theory  and 
practice.  New  York,  1911.  See  especially  Chaps,  i,  2,  19, 
21,  22.  Contains  numerous  concrete  illustrations  of  special 
value  to  teachers. 

HISTORY  OF  HISTORY 

SHOTWELL,  J.  T.    Article  on  History  hi  Encyclopaedia  Britannica, 

nth  edition. 
ROBINSON,  J.  H.     The  New  History.    New  York,  1912.    pp.  i- 

100.    The  new  history;    the  history  of  history;    the  new 

allies  of  history. 

BURY,  J.  B.     The  ancient  Greek  historians.    New  York,  1909. 
LANGLOIS,  CH.  V.    Manuel  de  bibliographic  historique.     Part  H. 

Paris,    1904.    The   history   and   organization   of   historical 

studies  since  the  Renaissance. 

FUETER,  EDUARD.    Geschichte  der  neueren  Historiographie.     Hand- 
buck  der  mittelalterlichen  und  neueren  Geschichte.     Miinchen, 

1911. 
GOOCH,  G.  P.     History  and  historians  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

New  York,  1913.     See  by  the  same  author:   The  growth  of 

historical  science.    Cambridge  Modern  History,  XH.    New 

York,  1910.    pp.  816-850. 
FLINT,  ROBERT.    History  of  the  philosophy  of  history.    New  York, 

1894.    pp.  42-87. 

JULIAN,  C.    Historiens  Francois  du  XIX*  siecle.    Paris,  1897. 
GUILLAND,  A.     L'Allemagne  et  ses  hisloriens.     Paris,  1899. 
JAMESON,  J.  F.    History  of  historical  writing  in  America.    Boston, 

1891. 


452  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

BRIEF  ARTICLES  BY  AMERICAN  HISTORIANS 

ADAMS,  G.  B.    History  and  the  philosophy  of  history.    American 

Historical  Review,  XTV,  221-236. 
CHEYNEY,  E.  P.    What  is  history  ?    History  Teacher's  Magazine, 

H,  75-95- 
RHODES,  J.  F.    History.    Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  85,  pp.  158- 

169. 
SLOANE,  W.  M.    The  vision  and  substance  of  history.    American 

Historical  Review,  XVII,  235-251. 
WINSOR,  JUSTIN.    The  perils  of  historical  narrative.    Atlantic 

Monthly,  Vol.  66,  pp.  280-297. 

CHAPTER  II 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING  HISTORY 

ALLEN,  J.  W.  The  place  of  history  in  education.  London,  1909. 
pp.  1-105.  Extended  analysis  of  the  problem. 

BARNES,  MARY  SHELDON.  Studies  in  historical  method.  Boston, 
1896.  pp.  47-105.  Compares  the  historic  sense  of  primitive 
peoples  with  the  historic  sense  in  children.  Describes  experi- 
ments with  children  tending  to  support  the  culture-epoch 
theory. 

BEHRENDT,  WALTER.  Die  Beliebtheit  des  Geschichtsunterrichts 
auf  Grund  experimentaler  Untersuchungen.  Vergangenheit 
und  Gegenwart,  1913,  Heft  5,  pp.  308-317.  Shows  the  prefer- 
ences of  pupils  for  the  various  school  studies,  with  special 
comment  on  the  statistics  for  history.  Summarizes  the  work 
of  recent  investigators. 

BERNHEIM,  ERNST.  Geschichtswissenschaft  und  Geschichtsunter- 
richt.  Neue  Bahnen,  X,  265-300;  337-357.  Summary  and 
criticism  of  German  theories,  with  an  extended  discussion  of 


APPENDIX   IV  453 

Lamprecht.  Favors  the  culture-epoch  theory,  but  would 
have  instruction  at  every  stage  in  harmony  with  facts. 

DEWEY,  JOHN.  The  aim  of  history  hi  elementary  education. 
Elementary  School  Record,  No.  8,  pp.  199-203.  "Whatever 
history  may  be  for  the  scientific  historian,  for  the  educator 
it  must  be  an  indirect  sociology."  Description  of  program 
and  reports  of  work,  by  Georgia  F.  Bacon  and  others,  Ibid., 
204-209. 

HALL,  G.  S.  Educational  problems,  II,  278-310.  A  general  dis- 
cussion of  the  "pedagogy  of  history."  Favors  the  culture- 
epoch  theory.  See  p.  290. 

HINSDALE,  B.  A.  How  to  study  and  teach  history.  New  York, 
1908.  pp.  42-52,  67-74.  Touches  the  problem  of  grading 
incidentally  in  discussing  the  choice  and  organization  of  facts. 

KAUSCHE,  W.  Anekdote  und  Legende  im  Geschichtsunterricht. 
Beilage  zum  Jahresbericht  des  kgl.  Domgymnasiums  und 
Realgymnasiums  zu  Kolberg,  1906.  pp.  1-40. 

JAGER,  OSKAR.  Bemerkungen  tiber  den  geschichtlichen  Unterricht. 
Beigabe  zu  dem  "HUfsbuch  fiir  den  ersten  Unterricht  in  alter 
Geschichte."  1892.  pp.  3-47. 

KEATINGE,  M.  W.  Studies  in  the  teaching  of  history.  London, 
1910.  pp.  20-35.  Contrasts  the  problems  presented  by 
"natural  science"  with  the  problems  presented  by  "human 
science."  The  general  conclusion  is  that  "the  schoolboy 
can  be  turned  into  either  of  them  with  equal  ease." 

LAURIE,  S.  S.  History  hi  the  school.  School  Review,  IV,  649-663. 
Culture-epoch  theory. 

MACE,  W.  H.  Method  in  History.  Boston,  1897.  pp.  255-308. 
Indicates  clearly  the  steps  in  introducing  children  to  the  five 
forms  of  institutional  life  about  which  the  author  organizes 
history.  The  treatment  of  "the  sense  phase  of  history" 
(pp.  255-268)  of  special  value. 


454  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

MUZZEY,  D.  S.  The  problem  of  correlating  the  work  in  history 
in  the  elementary  school,  high  school,  and  college.  Report, 
Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the  Middle  States  and 
Maryland,  1906.  pp.  13-28.  Illustrates  the  difficulty  of 
grading  history. 

SALMON,  LUCY  M.  Some  principles  in  the  teaching  of  history. 
Yearbook,  National  Society  for  the  Scientific  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. Chicago,  1962.  pp.  30-47.  Finds  in  each  of  five 
stages  of  development  a  dominant  mental  trait  which  deter- 
mines materials  and  treatment.  For  criticism  of  this  view 
see  Yearbook  of  the  same  society,  1903. 

SEIGNOBOS,  CH.  ^,'histoire  dans  I' enseignement  secondaire.  Paris, 
1906.  pp.  3-25.  A  clear  analysis  of  the  problem.  History 
should  begin  with  concrete  facts  relating  to  the  material 
aspects  of  the  past.  We  should  avoid  abstract  terms. 

SCHEIBLHTJBER,  A.  C.  Das  Erlebnis  in  seiner  Bedeutung  fur  den 
elementaren  Geschichtsunterricht.  Vergangenheit  und  Ge gen- 
wart,  1911,  Heft  i,  pp.  54-58.  "Das  Kind  phantasiert,  wo 
der  Erwachsene  denkt,  und  wo  es  nicht  zuvor  phantasiert 
hat,  denkt  es  auch  hinterher  nicht." 

TUCKER,  HENRY  R.  The  doctrine  of  interest.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  III,  50-53.  A  general  view  of  the  doctrine  "as 
related  to  instruction  in  the  social  sciences  in  the  high  school." 

WILSON,  ROLAND  K.  Should  history  be  taught  backward? 
Contemporary  Review,  Vol.  70,  pp.  391-407. 

WINTERBURN,  R.  V.  Some  studies  of  children  in  history  teaching. 
Education,  XXI,  37-44.  By  the  same  author :  Ethnological 
consideration  of  history  for  the  grades.  Ibid.,  XXII,  212- 
217. 


APPENDIX   IV  455 

CHAPTER  III 
THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES 

"I  have  always  been  of  the  opinion,"  wrote  Karl  August  Miiller 
in  1835,  "that  nothing  is  more  useless  for  a  teacher  than  to  talk 
about  the  value  of  his  subject.  Those  who  understand  the  matter 
need  no  praise  of  it ;  those  who  do  not  will  learn  more  readily 
through  experience  than  through  words."  In  the  case  of  history 
there  was  a  further  objection.  So  much  had  already  been  written 
that  no  one  could  hope  to  say  anything  new.1  Few  writers  on 
the  teaching  of  history  seem  to  have  agreed  with  Muller  that  it  is 
useless  to  talk  about  values,  but  many  have  illustrated  the  diffi- 
culty of  saying  anything  new.  The  following  list  is  confined  to 
expressions  of  opinion  hi  our  own  tune,  chiefly  in  the  United  States, 
and  is  believed  to  be  fairly  representative  both  of  what  is  common- 
place and  of  what  is  exceptional  in  current  discussion. 

GENERAL  DISCUSSIONS 

ALLEN,  J.  W.     The  place  of  history  in  education,  156-179. 
BOURNE,  H.  E.     Teaching  of  history  and  civics.    New  York,  1910. 

pp.  77-92. 
BURR,  G.  L.    History  as  a  teacher  and  the  teacher  of  history. 

History  Teacher's  Magazine,  III,  95-98. 
HARRISON,  F.     The  meaning  of  history  and  other  historical  pieces. 

New  York,  1894.    pp.  1-23. 

HINSDALE,  B.  A.    How  to  study  and  teach  history,  2-17. 
JAMESON,  J.  F.    The  future  uses  of  history.    History  Teacher's 

Magazine,  IV,  35-40. 
McMuRRY,  C.  A.    Special  Method  in  History.    New  York,  1913. 

pp.  1-17. 

1  Miiller  nevertheless  did  his  duty  and  produced  34  pages  on  the  question. 
Ueber  den  Geschichtsunterricht  auf  Schtden,  14-48. 


456  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

V 

Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  16-26,  158-162. 
REIM,  CARL.    Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts,  1-20. 
SPENCER,  F.,  editor.    Chapters  on  the  aims  and  practice  of  teach- 
ing.   Cambridge,  1899.    History,  by  J.  E.  Lloyd,  141-155. 

SPECIAL  PHASES  OF  THE  QUESTION 

ANDREWS,  C.  M.  History  as  an  aid  to  moral  culture.  Proceed- 
ings, National  Education  Association,  1894.  pp.  397- 
411. 

BARNES,  MARY  SHELDON.  Studies  in  historical  method,  106-121. 
Emphasizes  the  making  of  patriots. 

B LAIR,  F.  G.  The  social  function  of  history.  Yearbook,  Herbart 
Society,  1898.  pp.  44-56. 

BOWMAN,  J.  N.  What  others  think  of  history.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  HI,  143-145.  Opinions  of  men  in  various  walks 
of  life. 

JACKSON,  L.  F.  A  single  aim  in  history  teaching.  History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  V,  245-248.  "History  alone  attempts 
to  show  matters  in  their  relation  to  time,  to  emphasize  the 
importance  of  sequence  in  life."  One  of  the  few  attempts 
to  set  up  for  instruction  hi  history  an  aim  distinct  from  the 
aims  of  instruction  in  other  subjects. 

LANGLOIS  and  SEIGNOBOS.  Introduction  to  the  study  of  history, 
331.  "We  understand  that  the  value  of  every  science  con- 
sists in  its  being  true,  and  we  ask  from  history  truth  and 
nothing  more." 

LEA,  H.  C.  Ethical  values  in  history.  American  Historical  Re- 
view, IX,  233-246.  A  criticism  of  Lord  Acton's  exhortation 
"to  try  others  by  the  final  maxim  that  governs"  our  own 
lives  and  "to  suffer  no  man  and  no  cause  to  escape  the  un- 
dying penalty  which  history  has  the  power  to  inflict  on 
wrong."  Lea  illustrates  the  changing  standards  of  morals 


APPENDIX    IV  457 

and  finds  a  fallacy  in  judging  the  past  by  our  own  "moral 
yardstick." 

LECKY,  W.  E.  H.     The  political  value  of  history.    New  York,  1893. 

PAULUS,  E.  Die  zukunftige  Friedenschluss  und  die  Schule. 
Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1915.  Heft  2,  pp.  112-117. 
Forecasts  the  effects  of  the  present  war  on  the  teaching  of 
history. 

SLOANE,  W.  M.  How  to  bring  out  the  ethical  value  of  history. 
School  Review,  VI,  724-744. 

SNEDDEN,  D.  Teaching  of  history  in  secondary  schools.  History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  V,  277-282.  A  criticism  of  traditional 
answers  to  the  question,  "Why  should  history  be  taught?" 
Would  surrender  chronological  order  and  idea  of  unity  and 
"adjust  the  teaching  of  history  to  the  study  of  contemporary 
social  science."  There  is  an  answer  to  this  article  in  the 
same  number  of  the  Magazine,  283-287.  What  history 
shall  we  teach  ?  By  G.  L.  Burr. 


CHAPTER  IV 


HISTORY  OF  HISTORY  TEACHING 
No  GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELD  HAS  AS  YET  APPEARED 

GALLANPT,  JULIUS.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des  Geschichts- 
unterrichts  im  Zeitalter  der  deutschen  Aufklarung.  Berlin, 
1900. 

PIZARD,  ALFRED.  L'histoire  dans  I'enseignement  primaire.  Paris, 
1891. 


458  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

REIM,  CARL.  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts.  Berlin,  1911. 
pp.  176-216. 

RICHTER,  ALBERT.  Geschichtsunterricht  im  17.  Jahrhundert. 
Pddagogisches  Magazin.  Heft  35.  Langensalza,  1893.  pp. 
1-27. 

ROSENBURG,  HERMANN.  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts. 
Breslau,  1910.  pp.  130-145. 

WITHERS,  H.  L.  The  teaching  of  history  and  other  papers.  Man- 
chester, 1904.  pp.  141-163.  The  teaching  of  history  in 
England  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


i.    Description  of  Conditions 

BAAR,  JOSEPH.  Studien  iiber  den  geschichtlichen  Unterricht  an 
den  hoheren  Lehranstalten  des  Auslandes.  Beilage  zum 
Programm  des  Progymnasiums  in  Malmedy.  In  two  parts, 
1895,  1897.  Describes  conditions  in  France,  Russia,  the 
United  States,  England,  Spain,  and  Norway.  Includes  also 
Italian  program  of  1894  and  Austrian  program  of  1884. 

HORN,  EWALD.  Das  hohere  Schulwesen  der  Staaten  Europas. 
Eine  Zusammenstellung  der  Stundenpldne.  Berlin,  1007. 

Report  of  a  conference  on  the  teaching  of  history  in  the  London  ele- 
mentary schools.  London,  1911.  pp.  17-32.  A  brief  descrip- 
tion of  the  teaching  of  history  in  elementary  schools  in  the 
British  Dominions,  the  United  States,  Germany,  Austria, 
Hungary,  Norway,  Holland,  Belgium,  France,  Italy,  and 
Japan. 

WOODS,  M.  EDITH.  Report  of  the  teaching  of  history  in  the  schools 
of  Germany  and  Belgium.  London,  1902. 


APPENDIX    IV  459 

Fox,    G.    L.    History   in   English   secondary   schools.    Report, 

Committee  of  Seven,  210-230. 
Board   of   Education   special   reports  on   educational   subjects, 

Vol.  24.    London,  1911.    pp.  54-64.    A  translation  of  the 

syllabus  in  history  for  boys'  lycees  in  France. 
FARRINGTON,  F.  E.    French  secondary  schools.    New  York,  1910. 

pp.  237-256.    The  teaching  of  history  and  geography. 
HASKINS,  C.  H.    History  in  the  French  lycees.    Report,  Com- 
mittee of  Seven,  199-209. 
L'HopiTAL,  M.    L'enseignement  de  1'histoire  dans  les  lycees  et 

colleges    de    1'Academie    de    Montpellier.     L'Enseignement 

Secondaire,  Feb.  15,  1909,  pp.  61-67  ;  March  i,  1909,  pp.  85- 

93.    An  illuminating  survey  of  actual  conditions. 
LEMONNIER,    H.    L'enseignement    de    I'hisloire    dans    les    ecoles 

primaires.     Paris^  1889.    pp.  223-268. 
SCHLOTTERT,  N.    Der  Geschichtsunterricht  in  Frankreich.     Ver- 

gangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1913.    Heft  i,  pp.  29-42. 
BOLTON,    F.     The   secondary   school   system   of  Germany.    New 

York,   1900.    pp.   235-250.    The  teaching  of  history  and 

geography. 
DAVISON,    ELLEN    S.    History   hi    German   secondary   schools. 

Educational  Review,  Vol.  40,  pp.  356-368. 
DODGE,  EVA.     The  teaching  of  history  in  girls'  schools  in  north  and 

central  Germany.    Manchester,    1908.    Contains  reports  of 

actual  lessons. 
RUSSELL,  J.  E.    German  higher  schools.    New  York,  1913.    pp. 

291-311.     Instruction  in  history  and  geography. 
SALMON,  LUCY  M.    History  in  the  German  Gymnasia.    Report, 

Committee  of  Seven,  173-198. 
CLAUSNITZER,  E.    Der  Geschichtsunterricht  nach  den  preussischen 

Mittelschulplanen  vom  3.  Februar  1910.     Vergangenheit  und 

Gegenwart,  1911.    Heft  2,  pp.  112-118. 


460  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

MULLER,  C.  Die  Geschichtslehrplane  der  preussischen  und 
sachsischen  hoheren  Madchenschulen.  Vergangenheit  und 
Gegenwart,  1912.  Heft  i,  pp.  34-42. 

REICHEL,  M.  Der  neue  miinchener  Geschichtslehrplan.  Ver- 
gangenheit und  Gegenwart,  1913.  Heft  i,  pp.  23-29. 

KENDE,  O.  Geschichte  im  Lehrplan  der  osterreichischen  hoheren 
Schulen.  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912.  Heft  2,  pp. 
96-108. 

DECANI,  M.  A.  Some  aspects  of  Italian  education,  with  special 
reference  to  the  teaching  of  history  and  the  mother  tongue.  Lon- 
don, 1904. 

2.  Special  Discussions  of  Theory  and  Method 

CTTRTEIS,  A.  M.  The  teaching  of  history  in  preparatory  schools. 
Board  of  Education  special  reports  on  educational  subjects. 
Vol.  6.  London,  1900.  pp.  207-218. 

Essays  on  the  teaching  of  history.  Cambridge,  1901.  Views  of 
representative  English  historians.  The  teaching  of  history 
in  schools  by  W.  H.  Woodward,  69-91. 

KEATINGE  ,  M .  W.    Studies  in  the  teaching  of  history.    London  ,1910. 

Report  of  a  conference  on  the  teaching  of  history  in  the  London  ele- 
mentary schools,  33-72. 

Teaching  of  history  in  secondary  schools.  London,  1908.  Cir- 
cular No.  599,  Board  of  Education. 

TIBBEY,  T.  G.  On  the  teaching  of  history.  Westminster  Review, 
Vol.  151,  pp.  516-526. 

WITHERS,  H.  L.  Teaching  of  history,  167-201.  Memorandum 
on  the  teaching  of  history  in  elementary  schools. 

LANGLOIS  and  SEIGNOBOS.  Introduction  to  the  study  of  history, 
325~334-  The  secondary  teaching  of  history  in  France. 

LAVISSE,  E.  A  propos  de  nos  Scales.  Paris,  1895.  pp.  77-107. 
De  1'enseignement  de  rhistoire. 


APPENDIX    IV  461 

Uenseignement  de  Vhistoire.  Conferences  du  Musee  Pedagogique, 
1907.  Contains  papers  by  Seignobos,  Langlois,  and  Gal- 
louedec,  and  68  pages  of  discussion  of  these  papers.  Illus- 
trates admirably  the  methods  and  spirit  of  secondary  his- 
torical instruction  in  France. 

SEIGNOBOS,  CH.  Vhistoire  dans  I' enseignement  secondaire.  Sug- 
gests methods  and  apparatus  for  making  the  new  conception 
of  history  for  the  lycees  effective. 

JAGER,  0.  Didaktik  und  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts. 
Munchen,  1905. 

JAGER,  0.  The  teaching  of  history.  Translated  by  H.  J.  Chaytor. 
Chicago,  1915. 

LORENZ,  KARL.  Der  moderne  Geschichtsunterricht.  Munchen, 
1897. 

REIM,  CARL.    Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts.    Halle,  1911. 

ROSENBURG,  H.    Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts.    Breslau,  1910. 

STRUNK,  H.  Heimatkunde  und  Geschichtsunterricht  an  den 
hoheren  Schulen  Preussens.  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart, 
1912.  Heft  i,  pp.  24-34. 

TECKLENBURG,  A.  Vom  Geschichtsunterricht  hi  der  Volkschule. 
Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1911.  Heft  2,  pp.  90-106. 

CHAPTER  V 

HISTORY    IN    THE    SCHOOL    CURRICULUM    IN    THE 
UNITED   STATES 

RUSSELL,  W.  F.  Why  history  came  into  the  curriculum  of  the 
secondary  schools  of  the  United  States.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  V,  203-208.  The  entrance  of  history  into  the 
curriculum  of  the  secondary  school.  Ibid.,  311-318.  Early 
methods  of  teaching  history  in  secondary  schools.  Ibid., 


462  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

VI,   14-19;    44-52.    List  of  historical  textbooks  published 

before  1861.     (In  the  United  States.)    Ibid.,  122-125.    The 

only  important  contribution  on  the  early  teaching  of  history 

in  the  United  States. 
BOURNE,  H.  E.     Teaching  of  history  and  civics,  56-76.    A  sketch. 

of  conditions  since  1892. 
ZIMMERN,   ALICE.    Methods  of  education  in  the   United  States. 

London,  1894.     Discussion  of  history,  61-77. 
HENNIG,  E.    Der  Geschichtsunterricht  hi  der  Vereinigten  Staaten. 

Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1914.    Heft  4,  pp.  235-247. 

REPORTS  OF  COMMITTEES 

Committee  of  Ten  on  secondary  school  studies.    New  York,  1894. 

pp.  28-59,  162-201. 
BUTLER,  N.  M.    Reform  of  secondary  education  in  the  United 

States.     Atlantic  Monthly,   Vol.    73,  pp.   372-384.     Review 

of  report  of  Committee  of  Ten. 
Committee  of   Fifteen   on   elementary   education.    New   York, 

1895.    pp.  81-83,  93-95,  103. 
Committee  of  Twelve  on  rural  schools.    Proceedings,  National 

Education  Association,  1897,  pp.  550-551. 
Committee  of  Seven.     The  study  of  history  in  schools.    New  York, 

1899.    See  especially  pp.  1-15,  134-157. 
Committee  of  Three  appointed  by  the  American  Peace  Society. 

The  teaching  of  history  in  the  public  schools  with  reference  to 

war  and  peace.     Boston,  1006. 
Committee  of  Eight.     The  study  of  history  in  elementary  schools. 

New  York,  1909.    See  especially  pp.  v-xvii,  123-130. 
Committee  of  Five.    The  study  of  history  in  secondary  schools. 

New  York,  1911.    See  especially  pp.  1-13,  57-69. 
Committee    on    Social    Studies.    Preliminary    report.    History 

Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  291-296. 


APPENDIX    IV  463 

COLLEGE  ENTRANCE  REQUIREMENTS 

MONROE'S  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  II,  14-16.  A  brief  historical 
summary. 

GENERAL  TREATISES  ON  THE  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

A  score  or  more  produced  in  the  United  States  during  the  last 
thirty  years.  For  an  annotated  list  of  the  most  important 
examples  see  ANDREWS,  GAMBRILL,  and  TALL,  Bibliography  of 
history  for  schools  and  libraries,  i-io.  The  following  have 
appeared  since  the  publication  of  this  bibliography : 

BLISS,  W.  F.  History  in  the  elementary  schools.  Methods,  courses 
of  study,  bibliographies.  New  York,  1911. 

HARTWELL,  E.  C.     The  teaching  of  history.    Boston,  1913. 

WAYLAND,  J.  W.  How  to  teach  American  history.  New  York, 
1914. 

CURRENT  IDEAS  AND  PRACTICE 

History  Teacher's  Magazine.   Philadelphia,  1909 .    Problems  of 

special  present  interest  are  discussed  in  the  following  articles : 
ASHLEY,  R.  L.  Unity  and  Continuity  in  high  school  history 
courses,  VI,  140-144.  DAVIS,  C.  O.  Realizable  educa- 
tional values  in  history,  VI,  167-178.  DRAPER,  A.  S.  No 
mummified  history  in  New  York  schools,  III,  71-73. 
GATHANY,  J.  M.  The  reconstruction  of  history  teaching,  V, 
223-227.  HAYES,  C.  H.  Propriety  and  value  of  the  study 
of  recent  history,  IV,  243-248.  MUZZEY,  D.  S.  How 
modern  shall  we  make  our  modern  history?  Ill,  25-28. 
PRIDDY,  BESSIE  L.  Articulation  of  our  history  courses, 
IV,  188-193.  SIOUSSAT,  ST.  GEORGE  L.  History  hi  the 
high  school  curriculum:  a  plea  for  fair  play,  V,  87-91, 
SPRAGUE,  C.  A.  Reorganization  of  high  school  courses. 
IV,  222-223. 


464  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

BAGLEY,  W.  G.  The  determination  of  minimum  essentials  in 
elementary  geography  and  history.  Yearbook,  National. 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Education.  Chicago,  1915.  pp. 
131-146. 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY 

Biography,  as  an  introduction  to  history  in  school,  is,  by  its 
advocates,  now  so  commonly  ranked  with  the  eternal  verities  of 
education  that  one  finds  in  current  discussion  multa  non  multum. 

GOSSE,  EDMUND.  Article  on  Biography  in  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica,  nth  edition.  Traces  briefly  the  history  of  biography 
and  mentions  the  most  famous  biographies. 

HHKNHKIM,  E.  Geschichtswissenschaft  und  Geschichtsunterricht. 
Neue  Bahnen,  X,  338-342.  An  adverse  criticism. 

BOURDEAU,  L.  L'histoire  et  les  historiens.  Paris,  1888.  pp.  13- 
109.  Considers  biography  from  the  standpoint  of  history 
and  not  of  the  teaching  of  history.  A  radical  opponent  ot 
the  biographical  theory. 

KEMP,  E.  W.  Outline  of  method  in  history.  Terre  Haute,  1897. 
pp.  264-295.  A  general  discussion  of  the  use  of  biography 
in  school.  Chief  emphasis  upon  moral  value. 

LAWLESS,  EMILY.  Of  the  personal  element  in  history.  Nineteenth 
Century,  Vol.  50,  pp.  790-798. 

MACE,  W.  H.  Method  in  history.  Boston,  1897.  pp.  283-294. 
Shows  the  use  and  value  of  "the  ideal  historical  person"  and 
of  "the  real  historical  person"  in  school  studies  of  history. 

MOORE,  F.  W.  The  real  and  the  ideal  in  history.  Sewanee  Re- 
view, XI,  412-424.  Demands  heroes.  "In  truth  it  is  not 
the  men  whom  we  honor,  but  the  virtues  which  they  ex- 
emplify." 


APPENDIX    IV  465 

REIM,  CARL.  Methodik  des  Geschichtsunterrichts,  49-57.  Ex- 
amines the  arguments  for  and  against  the  biographical 
treatment  of  history  in  school. 

CHAPTER  VII 
THE  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  GROUPS 

GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS 

GOOCH,  G.  P.  History  and  historians  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
573-594.  Historical  sketch  of  histories  of  civilization. 

LANGLOIS  and  SEIGNOBOS.  Introduction  to  the  study  of  history, 
232-251.  The  grouping  of  facts.  Indicates  processes  to  be 
applied  by  the  historian. 

BOURDEAU,  L.  L'Kistoire  et  les  historiens,  289-306.  Applies  the 
statistical  method. 

LAMPRECHT,  KARL.  What  is  history?  New  York,  1905.  .^See 
especially  pp.  3-35,  137-179.  "History  in  itself  is  nothing 
but  applied  psychology.  Hence  we  must  look  to  theoretical 
psychology  to  give  us  the  clew  to  its  true  interpretation." 

SHOW,  A.  B.  The  new  culture-history  in  Germany.  History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  215-221.  A  description  and  ap- 
praisal of  Lamprecht's  contributions  to  history. 

SELIGMAN,  E.  R,  A.  Economic  interpretation  of  history.  Traces 
the  development  of  the  theory  and  indicates  its  limitations. 

SHOTWELL,  J.  T.  Social  history  and  the  industrial  revolution. 
Report,  Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the  Middle  States 
and  Maryland,  1911,  pp.  6-17.  The  interpretation  of  his- 
tory. A  *  :can  Historical  Review,  XVHI,  692-709. 


2H 


466  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY 

APPLICATION  TO  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION 

BENGEL,    J.    Geschichte   der   Methodik   des    kulturgeschichtlichen 

Unterrichts.    Wiesbaden,  1896.    pp.  1-74.    Includes  a  bib- 
liography. 
BEEDERMANN,  KARL.    Der  Geschichtsunterricht  auf  Schulen  nach 

kulturgeschichUicher  Methode.    Wiesbaden,   1885.     pp.   5-45. 
ROSSBACH,  J.     Die   Beriicksichtigung   der   Kulturgeschichte  im 

Geschichtsunterricht.     Aus  der  Schule  fur  die  Schule,  1895. 

Heft  65,  pp.    1-15.     Contains  a  description  and  criticism 

of  Biedermann's  plan. 
SCHNABEL,    F.     Kulturgeschichte    im    Geschichtsunterricht    des 

Oberklassen.     Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,   1914.     Heft  2, 

pp.  87-97. 
WOODS,  M.  EDITH.    Report  on  the  teaching  of  history  in  the  schools 

of  Germany  and  Belgium,  11-17.     Describes  the  teaching  of 

Kulturgeschichte  in  Belgium. 
ROBINSON,  J.  H.     The  new  history,  132-153.    History  for  the 

common  man. 

CHAPTERS  VIII,  IX,  X 

MAKING   THE    PAST   REAL.    USE    OF   MODELS   AND 
PICTURES.    USE  ^  OF  MAPS 

The  literature  is  voluminous,  but  there  has  been  relatively 
little  analysis  of  the  problems  of  interpreting  visual  aids. 

ADAMS,  JOHN.  Exposition  and  illustration  in  teaching.  New 
York,'  1910.  pp.  250-451.  A  general  discussion  with  only 
incidental  references  to  history.  Treats  of  the  story  as 
illustration,  elaboration,  degree  in  illustration,  material 
illustrations,  the  picture  as  illustration,  the  diagram,  and 
dangers  of  illustration.  The  best  general  analysis. 


APPENDIX   IV  467 

WEYRICH,  EDGAR.  Anschaulicher  Geschichtsunterricht.  Wien, 
1910.  The  first  and  only  detailed  treatise.  Emphasizes 
the  place  of  the  community  in  the  teaching  of  history  and 
presents  an  exhaustive  survey  of  materials  for  Vienna.  Slight 
analysis  of  problems  of  interpretation.  The  introduction 
contains  suggestions  of  general  interest  and  value.  See 
pp.  iii-xxvii.  See  also  two  articles  by  the  same  author  hi 
Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1911.  Ueber  Anschaulichkeit 
im  Geschichtsunterricht.  Heft  3,  pp.  184-197 ;  Heft  4, 
pp.  238-253. 

BRIEF  ARTICLES 

SALMON,  LUCY  M.  On  a  certain  indefiniteness  in  the  teaching  of 
history.  Report,  Association  of  History  Teachers  of  the 
Middle  States  and  Maryland,  1910.  pp.  6-12.  A  "plea 
for  the  recognition  of  a  certain  indefiniteness  in  the  nature 
of  history  itself  and  consequently  in  its  teaching." 

CHAD  WICK,  R.  D.  Vitalizing  the  history  work.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  VI,  112-121. 

FIKENSCHER,  F.  Das  epische  Princip  im  Geschichtsunterricht. 
Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1914.  Heft  3,  pp.  137- 
144. 

FiNLAY-JoHNSON,  HARRIET.  The  dramatic  method  of  teaching. 
London,  no  date.  pp.  34-161. 

KNOWLTON,  D.  C.  An  Athenian  assembly:  an  experiment  in 
history  teaching.  School  Review,  Vol.  18,  pp.  481-487. 

TALL,  LIDA  LEE.  Construction  work  in  the  grades.  History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  II,  34-36. 

PAGE,  E.  C.  A  working  museum  of  history.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  V,  77-80. 

SALMON,  LUCY  M.  The  historical  museum.  Educational  Re- 
view, Vol.  41,  pp.  144-160. 


468  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

VINCENT,  J.  M.  Historical  Research,  155-167,  215-247.  Pic- 
torial sources  of  history,  the  newspaper  as  a  source,  relics. 

AMES,  E.  W.  Pictures :  their  use  and  abuse.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  III,  8-10.  Other  articles  in  the  same  Magazine: 
DAVISON,  ELLEN  S.  Use  of  pictures  in  teaching,  IV,  130, 
145.  HAMILTON,  MAUD.  The  use  of  illustrative  material  in 
secondary  schools,  V,  81-86.  LINGELBACH,  W.  E.,  and 
TUCKER,  H.  C.  Use  of  the  lantern  in  history  classes,  IV, 
40-43.  THOMPSON,  LILLIAN  W.  Pictures  in  history  classes, 
H,  173-179.  PAULLIN,  C.  O.  Proposed  historical  atlas  of 
the  United  States,  V,  71-73.  SHEPHERD,  W.  R.  Historical 
maps  and  their  making,  III,  121-123.  SMITH,  D.  E.  Wall 
maps  for  history  classes,  I,  47-48. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY 

The  materials  for  the  study  of  textbooks  are  textbooks  and 
reviews  of  textbooks  in  current  periodicals.  Many  discussions 
of  methods  of  teaching  history  contain  remarks  on  textbooks  as 
they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  but  no  general  survey  of  the  field  has 
appeared. 

Textbooks  in  American  History.  A  report  presented  by  the 
committee  on  textbooks  of  the  New  England  History  Teachers' 
Association.  Publication  No.  3,  1898.  General  character- 
istics of  American  textbooks,  with  a  description  and  appraisal 
of  19  representative  books. 

RUSSELL,  W.  F.  Historical  textbooks  published  before  1861. 
History  Teacher's  Magazine,  VI,  122-125.  A  list  of  books  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States. 


APPENDIX  IV  469 

GUIDES  TO  FOREIGN  TEXTBOOKS  AND  OTHER  TEACHING 
APPARATUS 

Bibliographic  de  la  France.    Paris.    Publishes  annual  lists  for 

French  schools. 
SCHRODER,  CONRAD,  editor.    Fiihrer  durch  die  Lehrmittel  Deutsch- 

lands.    Magdeburg,  1903 . 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE  USE  OF  TEXTBOOKS 

The  use  of  textbooks  in  the  teaching  of  history  is  described 
incidentally  in  many  discussions  of  class-room  procedure  but  has 
rarely  invited  separate  treatment. 

BURST  ALL,  SARA  A.  The  proper  use  of  the  lecture  system  and 
the  textbook.  Historical  Association  Leaflet  No.  19.  Lon- 
don, 1910. 

BRUNNER,  G.  Das  Lehrbuch  im  Geschichtsunterricht.  Ver- 
gangenheit  und  Gegemvart,  1914,  Heft  6,  pp.  370-376. 

SELLERY,  G.  C.  The  use  of  the  textbook.  History  Teacher's 
Magazine,  II,  219-222. 

GENERAL  DISCUSSIONS  OF  THE  RECITATION 

BOURNE,  H.  E.     Teaching  of  history  and  civics,  147-168. 
BURNHAM,  S.     History  in  the  schools :   a  study  of  100  replies  of 

students  as  to  how  they  were  taught  history.    Educational 

Review,  Vol.  27,  pp.  521-528. 

HARTWELL,  E.  C.   The  teaching  of  history.    Boston,  1913.    pp.  1-67. 
Report,  Committee  on  methods  of  teaching,  New  England  History 

Teachers'  Association,  1895.    pp.  5-43. 
Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  86-110. 


470  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  185-201. 

STEVENS,  ROMIETT.  Waste  in  history  instruction.  History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  52-55.  The  question  as  a  measure 
of  efficiency  in  instruction.  New  York,  1912. 

TRENHOLME,  N.  M.  Organization  of  the  recitation.  .History 
Teacher's  Magazine,  I,  74-76. 

WOLPSON,  A.  M.  Efficiency  in  the  history  recitation.  Educa- 
tional Review,  Vol.  45,  pp.  444-456. 

DODGE,  EVA.  The  teaching  of  history  in  girls'  schools  in  north 
and  central  Germany.  Includes  reports  of  actual  lessons. 

WOODS,  M.  EDITH.  The  teaching  of  history  in  the  schools  of  Belgium 
and  Germany.  Includes  reports  of  actual  lessons. 

CHAPTER  XHI 

THE  SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  COLLATERAL 
READING 

For  general  guides  to  historical  literature  see  above,  p.  443. 

For  valuable  material  on  ancient  history  and  for  expert  advice 
on  books  see  the  following  articles  in  the  History  Teacher's  Maga- 
zine: The  teaching  of  Greek  history,  IV,  194-200;  226-232; 
240-255;  V,  17-23;  47-535  81-86;  15-16;  144-152;  171-176. 
The  teaching  of  Roman  history,  V,  209-218;  239-244;  323- 
328;  VI,  3-12;  53-58;  103-110;  271-277. 

BOURNE,  H.  E.  Teaching  of  history  and  civics,  117-133.  The 
school  and  the  library.  Enumerates  the  most  useful  guides 
to  historical  literature  and  suggests  books  for  a  library. 

History  Teacher's  Magazine.  GATHANY,  J.  M.  Using  magazines 
in  history  classes.  V,  288-291.  HOOVER,  T.  N.  History 
material  and  its  keeping.  HI,  4-5.  NESTOR,  I.  F.  Library 
work  and  collateral  reading.  V,  53-56.  PERKINS,  C. 


APPENDIX   IV  471 

Reference  work  in  high  school  history  courses.  II,  124- 
126.  SMITH,  MARY  S.  How  to  utilize  the  school  library. 
V, 130-140. 

MENZ,  H.    Die  Zeitung  in  den  hoheren  Schulen.     Vergangenheit 
und  Gegenwart,  1914,  Heft  i,  pp.  18-24. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

SCHOOL   HISTORY   AND   THE   HISTORICAL   METHOD 

BENGEL,    J.    Quellenbenutzung    beim    Geschichtsunterrichte.    Ein 

geschicMicher    Abriss.     Wiesbaden,    1898.    pp.    3-96.    In- 
cludes a  bibliography. 
RUDE,   A.    Quellen   im    Geschichtsunterricht.    Mit   besonderer 

Beriicksichtigung  der  Kulturgeschichte.    Neue  Bahnen,  III, 

pp.  281-292,  329-336. 
Historical  sources  in  schools.     Report  of  a  committee  of  the  New 

England  History  Teachers'  Association.    New  York,  1902. 

Describes  use  of  sources  and  gives  lists  of  available  sources 

for  ancient  history,  mediaeval  and  modern  European  history, 

English  history,  and  American  history. 
BOURNE,  H.  E.     Teaching  of  history  and  civics,  169-187.    The 

source  method. 
CALDWELL,  H.  W.    Source  Method  of  studying  history  in  high 

schools.    Proceedings,  National  Education  Association,  1897, 

pp.  670-676. 
FRAZER,    N.    L.    The    use   of   sources.    Historical   Association 

Leaflet,  No.  19.    London,  1910.    pp.  5-8. 
FRTEDRICH,  F.     Geschichtswissenschaft  und  Geschichtsunterricht. 

Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart,  1912,  Heft  i,  pp.  1-19. 
LAMBECK,  G.     Uber  die  Benutzung  von  Quellen  im  gcschichtlichcn 

Unterricht.    Ibid.,  Heft  5,  pp.  308-312. 


472  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

SCHILLING,  M.    Quellenlektiire  und  Geschichtsunterricht.    Berlin, 

1890. 
VIOLETTE,  E.  M.    The  use  of  source  material.    History  Bulletin 

of  the  First  District  Normal  School,  Kirksville,  Mo.,  1912,  pp. 

36-60. 

WHITE,  ELIZABETH  B.    An  experiment  in  teaching  local  history. 
History  Teacher's  Magazine,  IV,  205-206. 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE     CORRELATION     OF     HISTORY     WITH     OTHER 
SUBJECTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

Report,  Committee  of  Fifteen.  New  York,  1895.  pp.  40-113. 
The  correlation  of  studies  hi  elementary  education. 

McMuRRY,  C.  Special  method  in  history,  222-237.  The  correla- 
tion of  history  with  other  studies. 

PAYNE,  B.  R.    Elementary  school  curricula.    New  York,  1005. 

HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY 

BURR,  G.  L.  The  place  of  geography  hi  the  teaching  of  history. 
New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  1008. 

GEORGE,  H.  B.  The  relations  of  geography  and  history.  Oxford, 
1907. 

BRIGHAM,  A.  P.  Geographic  influences  in  American  history. 
Boston,  1903. 

SEMPLE,  ELLEN  C.  Influences  of  geographic  environment  on  the 
basis  of  RatzeVs  system  of  anthropo-geography.  New  York, 
1911.  American  history  and  its  geographic  conditions.  Bos- 
ton, 1903. 

TURNER,  F.  J.  Significance  of  the  frontier  in  American  history. 
Yearbook,  Herbart  Society,  1899,  pp.  7-41. 


APPENDIX  IV  473 

HISTORY  AND  LITERATURE 

ROOSEVELT,  THEODORE.    History  as  literature.    American  His- 
torical Review,  XVIII,  473-489. 
WILSON,  WOODROW.    Mere  literature.    Boston,  1896.    pp.  161- 

186. 

CROTHERS,  S.  M.    Gentle  Reader.    Boston,  1903.    pp.  167-200. 
FORD,  P.  L.    The  American  historical  novel.    Atlantic  Monthly, 

Vol.  80,  pp.  721-728. 
MAJOR,    CHARLES.    What    is    historic    atmosphere?    Scribner's 

Magazine,  Vol.  27,  pp.  753-761. 
MATTHEWS,  BRANDER.    The  historical  novel.    Forum,  Vol.  24, 

pp.  79-91. 
VINCENT,  J.   M.    Historical  research,   317-325.    The  historical 

novel.    ' 
RICE,  EMILY  J .    Course  of  study  in  history  and  literature.    Chicago, 

1898.    pp.  103-148. 

HISTORY  AND  GOVERNMENT 

Report,  Committee  of  Seven,  81-85. 

Report,   Committee  of  Five  of  the  American  Political  Science 

Association.    Proceedings,  1908. 
Report,  Committee  of  Five  on  the  study  of  history  in  secondary 

schools,  44-53- 
Report  on  the  relation  of  American  history  to  civics  in  secondary 

schools.    Proceedings,  the  North  Central  History  Teachers 

Association,  1909. 


474  TEACHING    OF   HISTORY 

CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  HISTORY  EXAMINATION 

Article  on  Examinations  in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education. 
Report,  Committee  of  Ten,  183-185 ;   Committee  of  Seven,  130- 

134;  Committee  of  Five,  37-38. 
MARTEN,  C.  H.  K.    How  ought  history  questions  to  be  set  —  and 

looked  over  ?    Historical  Association  Leaflet,  No.  19,  pp.  13- 

17- 

SALMON,  LUCY  M.  How  should  the  entrance  paper  in  history  be 
constructed  ?  Educational  Review,  Vol.  26,  22-35. 

STARCH,  D.,  and  ELLIOTT,  E.  C.  Reliability  of  grading  work  in 
history.  School  Review,  Vol.  21,  pp.  676-681. 

KEATINGE,  M.  W. ,  Studies  in  the  teaching  of  history,  i68i-i88. 

HARTWELL,  E.  C.     The  teaching  of  history,  64-67. 

History  Teacher's  Magazine.  College  Entrance  Board's  questions 
and  ratings,  IV,  256-258.  DAWSON,  EDGAR.  College  en- 
trance examination  papers,  III,  218-221 ;  Mortality  in 
history  examinations  and  its  causes,  IV,  258-266 ;  American 
history  in  entrance  examinations,  V,  253-256.  FITE,  E.  D. 
College  entrance  examinations  in  history,  VI,  144-146. 
FOSTER,  H.  D.  Adequate  tests  in  history,  V,  116-123. 


APPENDIX   V 

QUESTIONS  ON  THE  TEXT 

CHAPTER  I 
WHAT  HISTORY  IS 

1.  Illustrate  the  difficulty  of  classifying  sources. 

2.  What  conditions  are  suggested  by  the  terms  "prehistoric" 

and  "historic"? 

3.  Why  is  historical  criticism  necessary  ? 

4.  Indicate  the  steps  in  historical  synthesis. 

5.  What  kind  of  historical  construction  is  suggested  by  the 

search  for  the  interesting  ?  for  the  useful  ?  for  the  true  ? 

6.  What  claims  has  Herodotus  to  the  title  "father  of  history"  ? 

7.  What  reason  is  suggested  by  Thucydides  for  believing  that 

history  may  be  useful  ? 

8.  Can  history  be  made  scientific  by  the  method  of  the  natural 

sciences  ?    Why  ? 

9.  In  what  sense  has  history  become  a  science  ? 

10.  There  is  a  history  of  the  United  States  that  actually  happened 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  history  of  the  United  States 
that  was  in  the  mind  of  George  Bancroft  and  from  the 
History  of  the  United  States  that  is  now  in  Bancroft's  six 
volumes.  Are  such  distinctions  of  any  importance  to 
teachers  of  history  ?  Why  ? 
475 


476  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

CHAPTER  II 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING  HISTORY 

1.  Indicate  some  special  reasons  for  emphasizing,  in  discussions  of 

school  instruction  in  history,  the  question  of  what  is  possible. 

2.  Show  that  the  answers  to  this  question  supplied  by  the  natural 

tastes  and  interests  of  children,  by  the  culture-epoch  theory, 
and  by  the  principle  of  proceeding  from  the  near  to  the 
remote  are  incomplete  answers. 

3.  In  what  two  ways  may  the  culture-epoch  theory,  as  applied 

to  history  programs,  be  interpreted  ? 

4.  Both  interpretations  have  been  applied  with  success  in  the 

construction  of  history  programs.  Does  this  prove  the 
validity  of  the  theory  ?  Why  ? 

5.  "Different  groups  take  steps  in  culture  hi  a  different  order." 

Why  is  this  "a  sufficient  comment"  on  the  culture-epoch 
theory? 

6.  Can  the  past  in  any  sense  be  observed  directly  ?    What  is  the 

bearing  of  this  question  on  the  problem  of  grading  history  ? 

7.  Indicate  the  process  involved  in  reconstructing  past  mental 

states.  What  hints  for  grading  history  does  this  process 
suggest  ? 

8.  What  images  or  ideas  are  called  up  in  your  mind  when  you 

pronounce  the  words,  "Slave  Power  hi  America?"  What 
inference  as  to  the  conditions  of  grading  history  do  you 
draw  from  this  experience  ? 

9.  How  do  you  represent  to  yourself  484  B.C.  ?    What  inference 

do  you  draw  as  to  the  teaching  of  dates  hi  the  elementary 
school ? 

10.  Show  that  the  problem  of  grading  history  is  essentially  a 
problem  in  presentation. 


APPENDIX   V  477 

CHAPTER  in 

THE  QUESTION  OF  AIMS  AND  VALUES 

1.  Do  the  aims  commonly  proposed  for  historical  instruction 

furnish  a  distinctive  argument  for  teaching  history  ?    Justify 
your  answer. 

2.  What  conditions  explain  the  tendency  to  treat  aims  as  values  ? 

3.  On  what  general  grounds  has  the  value  of  historical  instruction 

been  questioned  ? 

4.  Have  you  ever  observed  in  yourself  or  in  others  any  symptoms 

of  historitis  ?    What  comment  on  Nietzsche's  views  is  sug- 
gested by  your  answer  ? 

5.  Why  is  it  necessary,  in  formulating  specific  aims  for  historical 

instruction,  to  take  account  of  kinds  of  history  ? 

6.  Distinguish  between  controlling  aims  and  incidental  aims. 

7.  What  controlling  aim  is  suggested  by  the  idea  of  development  ? 

Why? 

8.  Show  the  relation  of  this  aim  to  other  amis. 

9.  Indicate  the  difficulty  of  using  the  past  to  explain  the  present. 
10.  Should  one  of  the  specific  aims  of  historical  instruction  be  to 

teach  history  ?    Why  ? 

• 

CHAPTER  IV 

HISTORY  IN  THE  SCHOOL  CURRICULUM  IN  EUROPE 

1.  Explain   the  general  attitude  toward  historical  instruction 

before  the  seventeenth  century. 

2.  What  modern  ideas  of  school  instruction  in  history  were 

advanced  in  the  seventeenth  century  ? 

3.  To  what  extent  was  history  taught  in  the  eighteenth  century  ? 


478  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

4.  What  kind  of  history  was  taught  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 

tury? 

5.  Show  how  patriotism  affected  school  programs  in  history  in 

the  nineteenth  century. 

6.  Find  in  the  German  programs  that  are  cited  applications  of 

the  concentric  circles  idea. 

7.  What  evidence  of  a  changing  attitude  toward  contemporary 

history  is  afforded  by  these  German  programs. 

8.  In  what  European  program,  among  the  examples  given,  do 

you  find  the  greatest  emphasis  upon  modern  history  ? 
p.  What  differences  in  point  of  view  and  in  organization  are  in- 
dicated by  the  examples  of  current  elementary  programs  ? 
10.  What  comment  is  suggested  by  the  English  attitude  toward 
school  instruction  in  history  ? 

CHAPTER  V 

HISTORY    IN    THE    SCHOOL    CURRICULUM    IN    THE 
UNITED  STATES 

1.  Compare  historical  instruction  in  the  United  States  before 

1815  with  historical  instruction  in  Europe  before  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

2.  Point  out  the  difference  between  "subjects"  in  history  and  a 

"course"  in  history. 

3.  Can  American  history  for  American  elementary  schools  be 

urged  with  the  same  force  as  German  history  for  German 
elementary  schools  ?    Why  ? 

4.  In  what  important  respect  did  the  Madison  Conference  take 

more  advanced  ground  than  later  committees  ? 

5.  What  progress  in  program  making  is  indicated  by  the  report 

of  the  Committee  of  Seven  ? 


APPENDIX   V  479 

6.  In  what  respects  is  the  program  proposed  by  the  Committee 

of  Five  superior  to  the  program  proposed  by  the  Committee 
of  Seven  ? 

7.  Were  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  a 

step    forward    or    backward    for    historical    instruction? 
Why? 

8.  Compare  the  program  proposed  in  the  Report  of  the  Com- 

mittee of  Twelve  with  the  French  elementary  program. 

9.  What  conceptions  of  grading  history  are  suggested  by  the 

program  proposed  by  the  Committee  of  Eight  ? 
10.  In  the  making  of  history  programs,  to  judge  by  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  latest  of  dur  numerous  committees,  we 
have  not  yet  reached  ground  occupied  by  Russia  in  1890; 
in  the  amount  of  history  actually  taught  we  stand  about 
on  a  par  with  Spain.  Refute  or  defend  this  statement. 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BIOGRAPHICAL  APPROACH  TO  HISTORY 

1.  What   is   the   "true   biographical   motive"?    Should   works 

determined  by  any  other  motive  be  classed  as  biography? 
Why? 

2.  Indicate  the  grounds  for  the  following  statements : 

(a)  Rousseau  was  an  advocate  of  biography  but  not  of  the 

biographical  approach  to  history, 
(ft)  Advocates  of  the  biographical  approach  to  history  have, 

on  the  whole,  not  been  advocates  of  biography. 

3.  To  what  extent  is  it  desirable  for  children  to  clothe  their  own 

acts  "in  hero's  clothes"  ? 

4.  Why  is  it  natural  to  link  the  biographical  approach  to  history 

with  the  great-man  theory  of  history  ? 


480  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

5.  Describe  the  greatness  of  some  historical  character  and  note 

the  extent  to  which  your  description  sets  him  apart  as  ex- 
ceptional. 

6.  In  what  sense  can  biography  be  made  more  historical  by 

making  it  more  biographical  ? 

7.  Why  should  the  grouping  of  men  about  events  suggest  more 

strongly  than  the  grouping  of  events  about  men  the  possi- 
bility of  a  continuous  story  ? 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  GROUPS 

1.  Explain  the  persistence  of  political  and  military  history  in 

school  instruction. 

2.  What  conditions  in  the  world  at  large  are  reflected  in  the 

present  general  emphasis  upon  social  history  ? 

3.  Would  you  argue  from  the  history  of  Kulturgeschichte  in 

German  schools  that  the  present  war  in  Europe  will  be 
followed  by  a  reaction  in  favor  of  military  history  ?    Why  ? 

4.  Why  is  the  study  of  group  life  as  a  whole  more  difficult  than 

the  study  of  group  life  as  expressed  in  politics  and  war  ? 

5.  Show  how  you  would  use  your  own  community  in  introducing 

a  first  grade  to  the  study  of  group  conditions  and  activities. 

6.  Show  how  you  would  use  your  own  community  in  introducing  a 

seventh  grade  to  the  study  of  group  conditions  and  activities. 

7.  What  are  the  chief  difficulties  in  applying  the  point  of  view 

thus  indicated  to  history  in  general  ? 

8.  To  what  extent  have  these  difficulties  been  met  ? 

9.  Find  in  the  classification  proposed  by  Langlois  and  Seignobos 

hints  of  procedure  in  selecting  and  arranging  materials  for 
a  senior  class  in  the  high  school. 


APPENDIX   V  481 

CHAPTER  VHI 

MAKING  THE  PAST  REAL 

1.  What  is  the  general  process  involved  in  making  the  past  real? 

2.  Make  a  brief  list  of  aids  to  the  visualization  of  history  furnished 

by  material  conditions  and  activities  in  your  own  com- 
munity. 

3.  In  the  order  of  their  merit  as  representations  of  reality  the 

general  types  of  material  aids  to  visualization  may  be  ar- 
ranged as  follows :  the  reality  itself ;  casts ;  models ;  or- 
dinary pictures ;  maps ;  diagrams.  Does  this  order  suggest 
a  descending  scale  of  merit  in  the  use  of  the  materials  in 
school  ?  Why  ?. 

4.  Indicate  the  conditions  of  making  verbal  description  an  aid 

to  visualization. 

5.  Analyze  your  impressions  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  decide 

whether  you  think  of  him  as  a  real  man  or  as  "one  of  those 
historical  characters."  If  he  appears  "real,"  point  out  the 
factors  that  make  him  "real"  to  you. 

6.  Illustrate  the  difficulty  of  utilizing  details  in  the  history  lesson. 

7.  How  and  to  what  extent  can  the  difficulty  be  met  ? 

8.  Describe  any  special  device  for  utilizing  details  that  you  would 

use  with  a  senior  class  in  the  high  school. 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE  USE  OF  MODELS  AND   PICTURES 

1.  Explain  the  prevalence  of  the  exhibition  idea  in  the  use  of 

models  and  pictures. 

2.  In  what  sense  are  models  and  pictures  abstractions  ? 

21 


482  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

3.  Look  at  a  picture  of  the  Roman  forum  and  describe  the  images 

evoked. 

4.  Look  at  a  picture  of  George  Washington  and  describe  the 

image  evoked. 

5.  What  comment  on  the  use  of  pictures  is  suggested  by  the 

character  of  these  images  ? 

6.  Compare  the  process  of  interpreting  a  model  with  the  process 

of  interpreting  an  ordinary  picture. 

7.  Show  how  your  treatment  of  a  picture  of  the  Sistine  Madonna 

would  differ  from  your  treatment  of  a  picture  of  the  Roman 
Forum. 

8.  Of  what  value  are  tests  of  the  pupil's  ability  to  identify  un- 

labeled  models  and  pictures  ? 

9.  Why  should  models  and  pictures  be  subjected  to  criticism 

even  more  exacting  than  that  applied  to  verbal  description  ? 

CHAPTER  X 

THE  USE  OF  MAPS 

1.  Why  are  maps  essential  ? 

2.  Show  what  is  involved  in  realizing  location. 

3.  Show  what  is  involved  in  realizing  area. 

4.  What  adjustments  are  made  necessary  by  differences  in  map 

scales  and  map  projections  ? 

5.  Under  what   conditions  is  the  visualization  of  actual  geo- 

graphical environment  essential  ? 

6.  To  what  extent  is  the  relation  between  geographic  conditions 

and   human   development   "an   untrodden   field"   in   the 
teaching  of  history  in  school  ? 

7.  What  is  historical  geography  ? 

8.  Indicate  any  situation  in  history  that  would  require  for  its 

interpretation  a  contemporary  map. 


APPENDIX  V  483 

9.  Would  you  require  reproductions  of  maps  from  memory? 

Why? 
10.  Work  out  the  exercises  in  map  construction  suggested  in  this 

chapter,  pp.  259-268. 
NOTE.  Do  not  judge  too  hastily,  if  you  find  these  exercises  difficult, 

that  they  are  unsuitable  for  school.     In  estimating  the 

difficulties  for  pupils,  allow  for  the  directing  skill  of  the 

teacher. 

CHAPTER  XI 

TEXTBOOKS  IN  HISTORY 

1.  What  has  been  the  general  relation  of  textbooks  to  school 

instruction  in  history  ? 

2.  Examine  any  textbooks  in  history  that  may  be  accessible  and 

find,  if  possible,  one  example  of  the  precis  type,  one  of  the 
manuel  type,  and  one  of  the  cours  type. 

3.  Examine  the  extracts  from  textbooks  quoted  in  this  chapter 

and  indicate  the  type  of  textbook  treatment  which  each 
extract  suggests. 

4.  What  general  conditions  in  the  United  States  discourage  the 

cours  type  of  treatment  ? 

5.  Look  up  in  Who's  Who  in  America  the  author  of  any  text- 

book in  history  with  which  you  are  familiar  and  indicate 
how  your  tests  of  the  accuracy  of  this  textbook  would  be 
affected  by  your  knowledge  of  the  author. 

6.  Show  how  an  author's  general  point  of  view  may  be  deter- 

mined from  the  proportions  of  a  textbook  in  history. 

7.  Examine  the  pictures  in  any  textbook  with  which  you  may  be 

familiar  and  note  their  relations  to  the  text. 

8.  Should  a  textbook  in  history  reflect  the  personal  opinions  of 

the  author  ?    Why  ? 


484  TEACHING  OF   HISTORY 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE  USE  OF  TEXTBOOKS 

1.  Why  is  the  question  of  how  to  use  a  textbook  of  greater  im- 

portance in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe  ? 

2.  Explain  the  decline  of  the  memoriter  method  of  teaching  his- 

tory in  the  United  States. 

3.  Show  that  the  type  of  class  recitation  is  determined  hi  part 

by  the  type  of  textbook. 

4.  Indicate  the  general  merits  of  guiding  questions,  outlines,  and 

problems,  as  aids  to  study. 

5.  Compare  with  the  French  plan  of  dictation  and  explication. 

6.  Show  what  is  involved  hi  independent  study  of  the  history 

lesson. 

7.  Read  the  passage  quoted  on  p.  297  of  this  book  and  then 

answer  in  writing  the  three  questions  that  immediately 
follow.  Study  the  same  passage  in  the  manner  suggested 
on  p.  308  and  write  out  your  summary.  Compare  the  two 
papers  and  comment  on  the  results. 

8.  Find  in  the  lists  of  questions  in  this  book  fact  questions  that 

call  for  both  analysis  and  synthesis.  What  comment  on 
the  classification  of  questions,  indicated  on  p.  314,  do  these 
examples  suggest  ? 

9.  Describe   the   general   type   of   textbook   recitation   which, 

with  your  experience,  point  of  view,  and  personality  seems, 
on  the  whole,  the  best  to  you. 


APPENDIX   V  485 

CHAPTER  Xin 

THE  SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  COLLATERAL 
READING 

1.  Point  out  some  defects  in  current  conceptions  of  collateral 

reading. 

2.  What  are  the  chief  purposes  to  be  served  by  collateral  reading  ? 

3.  Indicate  the  types  of  material  and  treatment  suggested  by 

each  of  these  purposes. 

4.  What  should  be  the  general  character  of  readings  to  the  class  ? 

5.  To  what  extent  are  readings  by  the  class  determined  by  the 

nature  of  the  class  textbook  ? 

6.  Why  is  it  a  cardinal  mistake  to  treat  all  collateral  reading  as 

material  for  information  ? 

7.  Assume   the   following   conditions:    A   small   library;  ^two 

classes  studying  the  same  subject  in  history;  25  pupils 
in  each  class ;  general  study  periods  for  one  class,  9.40- 
10.20  and  2-2.40;  general  study  periods  for  the  other 
class,  u. 20-12  and  3.20-4.  Outline  a  general  scheme  for 
the  management  of  collateral  reading  adapted  to  these 
conditions. 

8.  Indicate  the  principles  which  you  would  apply  in  making 

additions  to  a  small  library. 


1.  Why  is  history  in  school  treated  so  generally  as  a  body  of 

assured  knowledge  ? 

2.  What  are  the  general  results  ? 


486  TEACHING   OF   HISTORY 

3.  Indicate  results  of  a  different  character  that  seem  desirable. 

4.  Is  the  question  of  whether  Pocahontas  did  or  did  not  save 

the  life  of  Captain  John  Smith  of  any  historical  importance  ? 
Why? 

5.  Is  the  question  of  how  Fiske  used  the  sources  in  his  account 

of  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Norsemen  of  any  his- 
torical importance  ?  Why  ? 

6.  In  view  of  your  answers  to  questions  4  and  5  would  you  use, 

for  exercises  in  criticism,  the  materials  there  indicated? 
Why? 

7.  What  is  implied  in  the  statement  that  the  most  valuable 

material  in  a  history  may  be  in  the  footnotes?  What 
bearing,  if  any,  has  this  on  the  use  of  histories  in  the  school  ? 

8.  Suggest  exercises  to  train  the  pupil  in  the  use  of  indexes  and 

tables  of  contents. 

9.  In  taking  notes  for  an  extended  paper  the  pupil  should  be 

trained  to  analyze  his  reading  as  he  goes  along,  to  enter 
only  one  topic  on  a  sheet,  and  to  write  on  one  side  of  the 
sheet  only.  Where  this  rule  is  followed  what  general  direc- 
tions would  you  give  for  the  organization  of  the  material 
in  the  notes  ? 

10.  Sum  up  the  arguments  for  and  against  illustrations  of  the 
historical  method  in  school. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE     CORRELATION     OF     HISTORY     WITH     OTHER 
SUBJECTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

1.  Point  out  the  difference  between  incidental  correlation  and 

systematic  correlation. 

2.  Compare  the  opportunities  for  correlating  history  and  geog- 


APPENDIX   V  487 

raphy  in  Europe  with  the  opportunities  for  correlating  these 
subjects  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Explain  the  unfriendly  attitude  toward  attempts  to  sever 

history  from  its  literary  associations. 

4.  Show  how  history  contributes  to  literature  and  how  literature 

contributes  to  history. 

5.  Point  out  the  difficulties  and  dangers  in  using  history  to 

illuminate  literature  and  in  using  literature  to  illuminate 
history. 

6.  What  place  would  you  assign  to  the  historical  novel  in  the 

teaching  of  history  ? 

7.  What  argument  is  suggested  by  European  experience  in  the 

teaching  of  government  ? 

8.  On  what  grounds  may  history  be  regarded  as  a  central  subject 

in  the  curriculum  ? 

CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  HISTORY  EXAMINATION 

1.  What  are  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  examinations 

set  by  authorities  outside  of  the  school  ? 

2.  Look  up  in  a  textbook  in  English  history  the  answers  to  the 

questions  cited  in  this  chapter,  pp.  420-422,  and  determine 
the  extent  to  which  they  are  answered  directly. 

3.  What  comment  on  memory  tests  is  suggested  by  the  "mortality 

in  history  examinations"  ? 

4.  Work  out  each  of  the  exercises  suggested  in  this  book,  pp.  429- 

436.  If  you  find  them  difficult,  do  not  judge  too  hastily 
that  they  are  unsuitable  for  school.  Allow  for  the  as- 
sumption that  pupils  have  been  trained  to  deal  with  materials 
in  these  ways. 


INDEX 


Action,  in  biography,  166,  173,  183. 
Adams,    Exposition  and    Illustration. 

quoted,  211,  215,  250. 
Adelaide,    Australia,    descriptions    of, 

14,  IS- 

Agregalion,  396. 

Aids,  visual  in  textbooks,  283 ;  peda- 
gogical in  textbooks,  284;  in  use  of 
textbooks,  297-299. 

Aims,  two  modes  in  formulation  of, 
55.  56 ;  contrasted  in  history  with 
those  of  other  subjects,  58,  73,  75 ; 
enumerated,  59 ;  related  to  scientific 
history,  60;  exercise  for  memory, 
61,  62 ;  for  imagination,  62 ;  dis- 
tinctive, 63,  74;  shifting  heretofore, 
64,  72;  relation  to  values  (q.v.), 
65 ;  to  train  judgment,  65 ;  specula- 
tive, 71;  in  uncritical  history,  72; 
in  critical  history,  73;  to  make 
world  intelligible,  75,  76;  to  make 
social  world  intelligible,  78-83,  186 ; 
in  biography,  178,  179;  in  history, 
178,  179;  in  classroom,  202;  to  be 
pursued,  208,  209. 

American:  colleges,  100;  Historical 
Association,  208,  411;  Historical 
Review,  26  n. ;  history,  130, 133,  and 
government,  137;  Political  Science 
Association  on  correlation  of  govern- 
ment and  history,  409,  410;  Revo- 
lution, 34,  127,  173,  175;  theory  of 
personal  initiative,  305,  318. 

Andrews,  Gambrill,  and  Tall;  A  Bib- 
liography of  History  for  Schools  and 
Libraries,  347. 

Archaeology  9. 

Area,  relative  ideas  of,  247-249. 

Arnold,  Thomas,  plan  of  history  course 
at  Rugby,  121,  122. 

Art,  substance  of  histories  of,  12. 


Athen6es  Royaux.  See  European 
Secondary  School  program. 

Austria,  90;  compared  with  Germany, 
1 1 8,  119. 

Bahrdt,  94. 

Bain,  quoted,  95. 

Barclay,  90. 

Basedow,  94,  101,  163;  's  Philan- 
thropinum,  90. 

Belgium.  See  European  Secondary 
School  program. 

Berlin,  7;  Ritter  Akademie,  90; 
elementary  program  of,  124. 

Bible,  8, 84, 88,  91 ;  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, 89,  (at  Rugby),  91 ;  in 
French  program,  104,  105 ;  invEng- 
lish  program,  122. 

Bibliography,  in  library,  347;  in 
pupils'  written  work,  382. 

Biedermann,  a  retrospective  arrange- 
ment, 102,  183 ;  program,  196,  197. 

Biographical:  survey  in  German 
programs,  no,  HI,  164;  stories 
from  ancient  history,  112. 

Biography:  as  approach  to  history, 
161-177;  as  bridge,  164,  171; 
arguments  for,  164,  165;  distinc- 
tion between  history  and,  162,  178; 
selection  in,  165;  action,  166; 
concreteness  in,  167;  aims,  168; 
moral  influence,  169;  possibilities, 
i73»  grouping,  173;  humanizing 
element,  174;  natural  course  to 
broader  field,  174,  175.  See  Aims. 

Bliss,  quoted,  33,  34  n. 

Blocks.  See  Programs,  Elementary, 
Secondary,  German,  French. 

Block  system,  276. 

Blumner.     See  Rausch. 

Boas,  quoted,  36,  37  «, 


489 


490 


INDEX 


Bodin,  253. 

Bourdeau,  quoted,  172. 

Browning  as  historian,  35;  quoted, 
Grammarian's  Funeral,  82, 83 ;  401. 

Bryce,  Lord,  quoted,  253. 

Buckle,  quoted,  23,  24;    68! 

Biirgerschulen,  113. 

Bury,  19  n. 

Butler,  Nicholas  Murray,  opinion  on 
work  of  College  Entrance  Examina- 
tion Board,  417. 

Byron,  Isles  of  Greece,  401. 

Carlyle,  quoted,  171,  180,  181. 

Cass,  Lewis  (McLaughlin),  128. 

Catechism,  for  use  in  All  the  Churches 
of  the  French  Empire,  quoted,  97, 
98. 

Cato,  quoted  indirectly,  171,  172. 

Charts,  213,  214,  215.    See  Maps. 

Christian  era,  6.  . 

Christianity,  emphasis  of,  26. 

Chronological  treatment,  101. 

Chronology,  9;    "freed  from,"  60. 

Cleveland,  Graver,  letter  credited  to,  7. 

Collateral  reading,  283.  292,  293 ;  se- 
lection and  management  of ,  323-350; 
obstacles  in  way  of,  325;  weakness 
in  selection,  326;  results  from,  326; 
grading,  327;  resources,  328,  335, 
336;  requirements,  328;  exagger- 
ated claims  for,  329;  use  of,  329; 
purposes  of,  330;  for  making  past 
real,  331 ;  for  information,  331, 
332,  345 ;  for  interest  or  inspiration, 

332.  333.    340,    345 ;     to   give   ac- 
quaintance to   historical   literature, 

333,  334.    34o;     to    illustrate    the 
historical   method,   334,    335,    340; 
concreteness    in,     337;      simplified 
versions,    337,   338;     to   the   class, 
338;     by    the    class,    339;     range 
regulated  by  textbook,  340;    rules 
for    assigning,     341 ;      independent 
searching,    342;     plan    for    pupils' 
records,   343;     teachers'    guide    to, 
343-345-    See  Libraries. 

College  Entrance  Examination  Board, 
417,  424,  4*5- 


College  entrance  requirements,  137- 
139;  American  history  in,  137; 
as  affecting  high  school  courses,  138 ; 
committee  on,  141. 

Colleges,  103 ;  for  girls,  109. 

Colonial  boundaries,  as  subject  to  be 
presented  to  seventh  grade,  365- 
367- 

Columbia,  138;  Conference,  139; 
program,  140,  141. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  varying  ac- 
counts of,  351-355- 

Comenius,  86,  87 ;  his  work  for  history 
in  the  schools,  96,  179,  391. 

Commissioner  of  Education,  report  of, 
137,  138. 

Committee  of  Eight,  39;  purpose  of, 
154;  program  of,  155;  biographical 
plan,  176. 

Committee  of  Fifteen,  Report  of,  150. 

Committee  of  Five  appointed,  148; 
program,  149;  on  correlation  of 
government  and  history,  411. 

Committee  of  Seven,  142,  143;  pro- 
grams, 143,  144;  ideas  of  history, 
145-149,  153,  158,  276;  on  collateral 
reading,  324,  325 ;  incidental  correla- 
tion, 389-391 ;  correlation  of  gov- 
ernment and  history,  408,  409;  on 
concentration,  413. 

Committee  of  Ten  created,  134;  re- 
port of,  135,  136,  142 ;  on  textbooks, 
312.  See  Madison  Conference. 

Committee  of  Twelve  appointed,  151 ; 
plan  of,  152. 

Committee  on  Social  Studies,  160. 

Comparison  and  Appreciation  in  ex- 
amination, 429. 

Concentration,  393,  395,  412,  413. 

Concentric  circles,  123;   152. 

Concrete  facts.    See  Particular  facts. 

Concreteness  in  textbooks,  277;  the 
most  important  element,  279;  in 
collateral  reading,  337. 

Conference  on  History,  Civil  Govern- 
ment, and  Political  Economy,  the 
program  of,  134,  135;  137;  142. 

Continuity,  chronological,  33;  in 
presentation,  49,  61 ;  in  biographi- 


INDEX 


4QI 


cal  method,  175;  through  political 
and  military  emphasis,  186,  201 ;  by 
grouping,  192-196 ;  through  pictures, 
197,  198;  in  school  history,  361- 
365- 

Correlation  of  history  with  other  sub- 
jects, 389-414.  See  Incidental  Cor- 
relation. See  Systematic  Correla- 
tion. See  Concentration. 

Coulanges,  Fustel  de,  quoted,  n,  350, 

SSi- 
Cousin,  quoted,  171. 

Critical  history.     See  History. 

Criticism,  external,  7 ;  internal,  10 ; 
results,  16.  See  Language. 

Culture-epoch  theory,  as  guide 
in  selection,  30,  31,  32 ;  two 
interpretations,  33,  34;  signifi- 
cance, 36;  applied  in  Herbart- 
Ziller-Rein  school,  102 ;  influence 
on  European  elementary  pro- 
gram, 123,  164,  166,  198;  in  cor- 
relation, 393. 

Curriculum,  85,  86,  87. 

d'Alembert,  101. 

Democracy,  185. 

Denmark,  87. 

De  Tocqueville,  80. 

Development,  idea  of,  126. 

Diagrams,  213,  214,  215.    See  Maps. 

Diaries,  222,  331. 

Didactic  history,  17,  18,  22. 

Diplomatics,  9. 

Dramatics,  making  past,  real,  221. 

Dryden's  use  of  biography,  162. 

Economic  history,  184,  185. 

Edison  kinetoscope,  213. 

Education,  facts  for  purposes  of,  17. 
See  Commissioner  of. 

Educational  Bi-Monthly  on  simplify- 
ing great  histories  for  children, 
quoted,  337,  338. 

Educational  value  of  history,  71. 

Educator's  attitude  toward  history,  30, 
61,  64,  159. 

Eighteenth  Century  attitude  toward 
history  in  Europe,  88,  91,  93,  96;  in 


United  States,  127;  toward  exam- 
inations, 415. 

Elementary  school  programs,  in  Eu- 
rope, 104,  122-125;  in  the  United 
States,  120-135,  150-155;  contrast 
in  Europe  and  U.  S.,  155,  156. 

Elson,  Side  Lights  on  A  merican  His- 
tory, quoted,  336. 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  quoted, 
description  of  Adelaide,  Australia, 
15  ». ;  20. 

England,  6;  87;  history  of,  at 
Rugby,  122;  length  of  biographical 
survey  in,  167. 

English  history,  91 ;  manual,  86,  133, 
136,  137 ;  part  of  an  examination  in, 
436;  language,  37. 

English  Privy  Council,  86;  96. 

Environment,  physical.  See  Physical 
element. 

Epigraphy,  9. 

Europe,  84. 

European  Secondary  School  program, 
Sweden,  120;  Belgium,  Athendes 
Royaux,  120;  Russia,  121;  Italy, 
121 ;  Spain,  121;  in  England,  121, 

122. 

Examination  of  sources,  363-388. 

Examinations,  history,  414-438;  defi- 
nition, 414;  origin,  414;  develop- 
ment, 415;  in  sixteenth  century, 
415,  416;  Prussian  system  of,  416; 
in  United  States,  417 ;  as  determined 
and  determining  factor,  418,  426, 
438;  subjects  that  lend  themselves 
to,  418,  419;  typical  American  high 
school,  410-424;  contrast  of  Eng- 
lish and  American,  424;  questions 
too  difficult,  426;  correct  elements 
in,  428 ;  possible  modes  of  procedure, 
428-438. 

Exhibition  idea,  225;  simplicity  of, 
227;  overestimated,  227. 

Experience,  as  an  interpreter,  42,  43, 
46,  47,  52f  S3- 

Extent,  relative  ideas  of,  247-249. 

External  criticism,  7;  province,  7; 
uncertainties,  8;  work  for  experts,. 
9;  fraudulent  sources,  10;  aim,  10 


492 


INDEX 


Facts,  selection  of,  16;  purpose,  17- 
19;  embrace  three  types  of  phe- 
nomena, 40;  particular  or  general, 
44;  concrete  or  abstract,  49,  50; 
historical,  denned,  51 ;  range,  53, 
54;  in  French  program,  109;  as 
biography,  161 ;  as  history  proper, 
161,  427 ;  in  examination,  deter- 
mination of,  427.  See  Particular 
Facts.  See  Selection. 

Fartherland,  the,  96,  97 ;  new  emphasis 
on  history  of,  99. 

Feelings.    See  Thoughts. 

Fiske's,  John,  account  of   Lexington, 

4- 

Fiske's  Discovery  of  America  I,  ex- 
tracts from,  372,  373,  376. 

Fletcher,  quoted,  71. 

France,  87;  oral  instruction  in, 
287. 

Francke,  as  an  advocate  of  history, 
89- 

Frederick  the  Great,  90. 

French,  14;  Revolution  place  in  Bliss' 
program,  34. 

French  history,  88,  92;  proposals, 
96,  97 ;  politics,  103 ;  secondary 
schools,  103-106;  with  geography, 
106,  107. 

French  program,  91,  92,  95,  97;  vary- 
ing degree  of  emphasis,  103,  104; 
1802-1800,  104-110,  114,  119,  124; 
the  most  advanced  example  of  its 
kind,  126,  167; 

French  Revolution,  25,  88;  effect  on 
emphasis  in  teaching,  91 ;  Re- 
public, 88. 

Froude,  quoted,  14. 

Gall  and  Rehhann  models,  210. 

Gedicke,  quoted,  96,  97. 

Geographical  influence  on  human  de- 
velopment, treatment  of,  252-254. 
See  Maps. 

Geography,  historical,  255,  256;  in 
library  347;  correlated  with  his- 
tory, 394-307- 

German    Emperor    (present),    quoted, 


German  historians,  180,  182. 

German  programs,  Minden,  1824,  no, 
HI;  Schleusinger,  1841,  in ;  Miihl- 
hausen,  1841,  HI;  Miinster,  1842, 
1851,  1856,  HI,  112;  Nordhausen, 
1842,  1848,  1856,  1878,  112,  113, 
114;  Prussia,  114,  117;  Saxony, 
115,  116,  117. 

German  programs  and  textbooks,  93 
(eighteenth  century). 

Germany,  87,  88,  92,  114,  119. 

Gooch:  History  and  Historians  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  402,  403, 
412. 

Gordy  and  Twitchell,  quoted,  60,  61 ; 
152. 

Government  correlated  with  history, 
406 ;  in  Europe,  407 ;  author's 
opinion  on  correlation  with  his- 
tory, 412  n.  See  Committee  of 
Five.  See  Committee  of  Seven.  See 
American. 

Grades,  kindergarten,  30,  35 ;  first,  30, 
50,  360;  collateral  reading,  first  to 
sixth,  336 ;  fifth  and  sixth,  33 ; 
fifth  or  sixth  and  on,  336;  seventh 
and  eighth,  33;  sixth,  34,  360,  370- 
372,  385;  fourth,  360,  363;  fourth 
or  fifth,  361;  fifth  or  sixth,  364; 
sixth  or  seventh,  259-262,  seventh, 
263-267,  343,  344,  377;  interme- 
diate, 271;  upper,  272;  eighth, 
377 ;  American  history  in,  397. 

Grading  history,  28-54;  n°  clear 
principles  of,  29;  compared  with 
mathematics,  29,  30 ;  with  language, 
29,  30 ;  problem  solved  in  part,  30 ; 
natural  tastes  as  guide  in,  31,  39; 
culture-epoch  theory  as  guide  in, 
32-39 ;  by  time  and  space  from  near 
to  remote,  38,  39 ;  for  earlier  years, 
50,  lot ;  in  biography,  167 ;  in 
grouping,  188,  189;  in  use  of  models 
and  pictures,  234;  in  collateral 
reading,  327. 

Great  man  theory,  172,  173. 

Greek  (early)  usage  of  word  history, 
19 ;  history,  88,  104 ;  writers,  91  ; 
language,  85,  99,  113. 


INDEX 


493 


Greeks,  20,  82,  94,  99. 
Green,  John  Richard,  quoted,  202. 
Grimm,  Jacob,  on  correlation,  398. 
Group  life,    expanding  views  of,    201. 
Grouping  of  facts  by  pupils,  377,  378. 
Groups,  186-190,  194-201. 
Gymnasium,  113. 

Gymnasium  programs.  See  German 
programs. 

Harvard,  130;  entrance  examination, 
4iS. 

Haupt,  the  grouping  arrangement  of, 
102. 

Hayne.    See  Webster-Hayne  debate. 

Headmasters'  Association,  148. 

Hebrews,  34;  example  of,  in  handing 
down  traditions,  84. 

Hecataeus  of  Miletus,  20.     , 

Heeren,  180. 

Hellas,  21. 

Hencell  models,  209,  210. 

Herbart,  correlation,  391. 

Herbart-Ziller-Rein  school,  102. 

Herder,  180. 

Herodotus,  19;  a  real  investigator,  20, 
21,  22 ;  the  predetermined  good,  57 ; 
on  geographic  influence,  253, 361-364. 

Hieroglyphics,  exercise  in,  383-385. 

Higher  Criticism.  See  Internal  criti- 
cism. 

High  school  programs.  See  Secondary 
school  programs. 

High  school  plan  of  map  lesson,  259; 
senior  class,  267 ;  results,  387,  388. 

Historical  albums.    See  Pictures. 

Historical  construction,  grouping,  377, 
378;  selection,  378;  in  high  and 
elementary,  378,  385;  written  work 
in.  378-383 ;  definite  system,  382 ; 
historical  criticism  in,  383 ;  idea  of 
cause  and  effect  from,  385,  386. 

Historical  criticism,  specific  achieve- 
ments in,  383. 

Historical  fiction,  398;  opinions  of, 
403;  accuracy  in,  404. 

Historical  method,  350-388;  training 
in,  359.  See  Criticism.  See  Syn- 
thesis. 


"Historical  mindedness,"  acquired,  32; 
development  of,  34,  38,  195;  op- 
posed to  originality  of  character, 
67. 

Historical  novelists,  35.  See  Litera- 
ture. 

Historic  period,  5 ;  beginning,  5 ;  pas- 
sage from  prehistoric  to,  6. 

History,  definition,  purpose,  concern, 
method,  result  of,  i ;  kinds,  17,  57, 
72 ;  meaning,  19 ;  scientific,  24-27 ; 
for  schools,  28-54,  350-388;  ele- 
mentary, 49,  50;  ephemeral  nature 
of,  57;  shaped  by  predetermined 
good,  57 ;  place  in  curriculum,  63, 
86,  155,  159,  160,  427;  critical, 
uncritical,  72,  73;  history  of,  75; 
broad  demand  upon,  76-83;  be- 
ginnings of,  84;  a  professional 
subject,  84-86;  for  European 
schools  in  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
century,  91-126;  in  schools  of 
United  States,  127-161;  as  first  in 
program,  179;  scope,  203;  romantic 
treatment,  402 ;  literature  contrib- 
utes to,  405,  406;  concentration 
about,  412,  413  ;  as  means  of  training 
and  culture,  427,  437;  universal  in 
secondary  schools,  122;  what  school 
should  do,  126.  See  Scientific  his- 
tory. See  Political  history. 

Hohenzollern,  97. 

Homer,  19. 

Illustrative  materials  not  used  intelli- 
gently and  coherently,  226.  See 
Pictures.  See  Maps.  See  Models. 

Imagery,  45,  46;    aids  to,  225,  227. 

Imagination,  work  for,  62 ;  in  dramatic 
historical  field,  221;  use  of,  to 
make  past  real;  221,222;  work  for, 
228. 

Incidental  correlation,  389,  391. 

Indians  presented  as  group,  190-194. 

Industrial  influence,   185,  199. 

Interest,  guard  against  mistaking,  217. 

Interpretation,  45.    See  Experience. 

Irving,  Washington,  Columbus,  355. 

Italy,  88;  program  of ,  121. 


494 


INDKX 


Jacatot,  on  correlation,  391. 
Jameson,  quoted,  73. 
Johnson.    See  Macaulay. 

Karlsefni,  Thorfinn,  Saga.  See  North- 
men, Columbus,  and  Cabot,  Original 
Narratives. 

Keatinge,-  Studies  in  the  Teaching  of 
History;  on  examinations,  423. 

Key  to  mental  experiences  for  be- 
ginners, 49. 

Knowledge,  historical,  70.    See  Values. 

Kohlrausch,  97. 

Kulturgeschichte,  87,  93,  102,  123,  126, 
183,  184,  196. 

Lamprecht,  184. 

Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to 

the  Study  of  History,  n,  14,  15,  63, 

187,  199,  200,  396. 

Language,  elusive ;  difficulties  of  exact- 
ness in,  ii ;  interpretation  of,  12; 

English,  37 ;  Latin,  37. 
Languages,  grading,  29,  30;  primitive, 

36,  37 ;   modern,  37,  136. 
Latin  language,  37,  85,  99,  113,  136; 

school,  85,  87. 
Laurie,  quoted,  32,  33,  35. 
Lavisse     and      Parmentier's     Album 

Historique,  211,  212. 
Law,  12. 

Lecky,  quoted,  69. 
Lecture  method,  288. 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  bust  attributed  to,  7. 
Libraries,  325;    kind,  345;    selection, 

345-348 ;      teacher's     responsibility 

in  securing,  348,  349. 
Lincoln,  Gettysburg,  431. 
Literature,  1 2 ;  correlated  with  history, 

397-400;    emphasis  on,    398,    399; 

contrast  between  history  and,  400- 

402,  405,  406.     See  Historical  fiction. 

See  names  of  authors. 
Local  resources,  use  of,  38,  39,  92,  94, 

189,  203-206,  251. 

Longfellow's  Paul  Revere,  398,  399,  400. 
Luther,  25 ;  quoted  through  Nietzsche, 

66,  67 ;  on  history  teaching,  86. 
Lycics,  103 ;  for  girls,  109. 


Macaulay,  181,  182,  Johnson,  350. 

Mace,  quoted,  198,  199. 

McMurry,  Charles,  A  Special 
Method  in  History,  153. 

Madison  Conference  on  History,  Civil 
Government,  Political  Economy, 
134.  iS7»  3".  312;  on  need  for 
reference  books,  323,  324;  on  exam- 
inations, 418.  See  Committee  of  Ten. 

Mann,  Horace,  quoted  on  textbooks, 
312. 

Maps,  use  of,  241—269;  purpose,  241, 
242;  interpretation,  244,  245,  252; 
plan  for,  245,  257-259;  influence  on 
history,  255;  historical,  262;  as 
aids  to  visualization  of  past,  208; 
213;  interpretation  in  examina- 
tion, 429.  See  Area,  Extent,  Geog- 
raphy. 

Massachusetts,  history  in  curriculum, 
128, 129. 

Mathematics,  orderly  progression  in, 
29,  30. 

Mather,  Cotton,  his  criticism  of 
printers,  8;  Magnolia,  8. 

Memory,  61,  62,  132,  183;  in  repro- 
duction of  maps,  257,  258;  in  out- 
line method,  300,  304;  questions, 
317;  386,  427,  428,  437;  in  examina- 
tion, 419,  427. 

Mercator  projection,  245,  246,  250,  251. 

Michigan,  attitude  toward  history, 
129;  University,  130. 

Military  history,  170-183. 

Miller,  Joaquin,  Sail  On,  401. 

Minden.    See  German  programs. 

Models,  204,  225-240;  Hensell,  209; 
purpose  of,  225;  as  aids  only,  288; 
size,  229;  primary  purpose,  231. 
See  Area,  Extent,  Pictures. 

Montesquieu,  Spirit  of  the  Laws,  indi- 
rectly quoted,  253. 

Moser,  180. 

Miihlhausen.    See  German  programs. 

MUnster.     See  German  programs. 

Museums,  as  resources,  204 ;  particular, 

205,  206;   cooperation  with  schools, 

206,  207. 
Mythology,  12. 


INDEX 


495 


Napoleon  in  Bliss'  program,  34;  40; 
42 ;  97 ;  downfall  of,  98. 

Napoleonic,  97  ;  wars,  180. 

Narrative  (story  telling  history),  17, 
18,  22,  183. 

National  Education  Association,  133, 
134,  145,  151,  152. 

National  history,  119,  123. 

New  England  Association  of  Colleges 
and  Preparatory  Schools,  Com- 
mittee, 138,  139. 

New  England  History  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciation, quoted,  300. 

Newspapers,  13,  14. 

Nietzsche,  attitude  toward  historical 
study,  65,  66. 

Nineteenth  century  attitude  toward 
history,  94,  96,  98;  the  century  of 
history,  125,  126,  184,  185;  exam- 
inations in,  415. 

Nordhausen.     See   German  programs. 

Northmen,  Columbus,  and  Cabot, 
Original  Narratives,  374,  375,  376. 

Novelists,  historical,  35.  See  Histori- 
cal fiction. 

Oberrealschulen,  113. 

Oral  instruction,  286;  contrast  of 
American  and  European  use  of, 
287;  in  European  method,  287- 
289. 

Organization  by  grouping,   198-201. 

Paleography,  9. 

Parkman  — ,  404. 

Pannentier.    See  Lavisse. 

Particular  facts,  44,  45 ;  the  A  B  C's 
of  history,  48;  key  for  beginners, 
49 ;  make  up  elementary  history,  49, 
50;  determination  of,  351-354.  See 
Selection. 

Past,  the :  embraces  three  types  of  phe- 
nomena, 40 ;  Nietzsche's  attitude 
toward,  66;  other  sentiments  con- 
cerning, 67 ;  general  attitude  to- 
ward, 68;  to  interpret  own  times, 
69,  70 ;  values  of,  73 ;  differences 
from  present,  125;  making  —  real, 
202-224.  See  Reality. 


Patriotic  motive,  126,  168. 

Patriotism,  98,  132,  164. 

Peacock,  Thomas  Love  quoted,  402. 

Peloponnesian  War,  21. 

Periods  (French),  two,  109,  no. 

Pestalozzi,  102. 

Petrarch,  8. 

Phenomena,  three  general  kinds  of 
the  past,  40;  first  type,  40;  second 
type,  41 ;  third  type,  42. 

Philology,  9. 

Philosophy,  12. 

Photography,  10. 

Physical  element  one  of  the  phenomena 
in  interpreting  the  past,  40;  for 
definite  imagery,  45. 

Pictures,  aids  to  visualization,  208; 
limitations  of,  210,  211;  'historical 
albums  of  Europe,  211,  212; 
general  field  of,  212;  moving,  213; 
225-240 ;  purpose,  225,  231 ;  aids 
only,  228;  size,  229. 

Place  sense  in  children,  53 ;   246. 

Plutarch,  162,  168. 

Political  history,  179,  180,  183,  198, 
199;  activities  as  thread  of  con- 
tinuity, 201. 

Politics,  facts  for,  17,  132,  182,  186. 

Polybius,  26. 

Powell,  reference  to  his  history,  39. 

Prehistoric  period,  5 ;  duration,  5 ; 
passage  to  historic,  6. 

Preliminary  practice  method,  308-311 ; 
the  recitation  in,  310;  ideal  of,  310. 

Presentation,  essential  problem  of 
adapting  history  to  school,  50; 
range,  53,  54;  to  make  world  in- 
telligible, 75;  of  school  history, 
364-371;  results,  371. 

Proportion,  sense  of,  dependent  on 
selection  of  facts,  48. 

Questions,  to  give  reality  to  map  lesson, 
263-267;  as  aids  in  interpreting 
textbooks,  274;  to  raise  in  exami- 
nation of  textbooks,  279-284,  303; 
guidance,  297,  298;  method,  306, 
307;  in  recitation,  313;  of  two 
kinds,  314;  wrong  kind,  315;  right, 


496 


INDEX 


316;  memory,  317,  427;  to  be 
raised  of  collateral  reading  lists, 
328,  334,  333 ;  to  be  raised  in  school 
history,  356;  preliminary,  361;  to 
be  raised  on  examination,  416; 
"  thought,"  419.  See  Examinations. 
See  Textbooks. 

Randall,  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
quoted,  432-435. 

Ranke,  184,  403,  405. 

Rausch  and  Bliimer  models,  210. 

Realgymnasien,  113,  119. 

Realien,  394. 

Reality,  in  imaging  past,  202 ;  within 
community,  203-206;  beyond  com- 
munity, 206-208 ;  first  step  toward, 
223.  See  Maps,  Pictures. 

Realschulen,  113,  119. 

Rebhann.     See  Gall. 

Recitation,  310,  320;  the  teacher's 
responsibility  in,  321,  322. 

Recognition  of  degrees  of  probability 
in  examination,  434. 

Reference  books.  See  Collateral  Read- 
ing. 

Religion,  facts  for  purposes  of,  17. 

Religious  dogma,  12;  ideas  for  group- 
ing, 109. 

Remains.     See  Sources. 

Reporters,  13,  14. 

Restoration,  influence  for  caution  in 
history  teaching  hi  France,  106. 

Results,  55 ;  65 ;  desired  realized  in 
too  slight  a  degree,  69. 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  quoted,  403. 

Kit-del,  quoted  La  substance,  96. 

Roll, uul,  92  ;  96. 

Rollin,  quoted,  89,  92,  132. 

Rousseau's  fcmile,  89, 90,  93,  162 ;  163, 
164. 

Sallust,  quoted  indirectly,  171. 
Salzmann,  94. 
Saxony,  Elector  of,  90. 
Schleusingen.      See  German  programs. 
Schlosser,  180. 

School  history,  teachers'  conception 
of»  350,  354;  differentiate  it  from 


fiction,  351;  indefinite  facts  stated 
definitely  in,  354,  355;  results, 
356,  357,  387,  388;  descrimination 
in,  358;  purpose  of,  359;  contin- 
uity in,  361,  365 ;  examples  of  pres- 
entation to  seventh  grade,  364-378 ; 
historical  construction,  377-386;  dis- 
tribution of  topics,  386.  See  Sources. 

Science,  12. 

Scientific  history,  53,  57;  aims  of 
history  related  to,  60,  73 ;  dominated 
by  the  idea  of  development,  74,  75. 

Scott,  Ivanhoe,  401,  402. 

Secondary  School  programs  in  Europe, 
85,  88,  97-99,  103-122  ;  in  U.  S.  130- 
150 ;  contrast  in  America  and  Eu- 
rope, 155,  156. 

Seignobos,  L'A  ntiqulte,  279.  See  Lang- 
lois  and  Seignobos. 

Selection,  range  in  grades,  29;  at 
beginning,  46;  in  field  of  thought, 
46 ;  of  facts  to  be  localized  definitely, 
52;  hi  biography,  165,  178-185;  in 
grouping,  188-100;  simplified  by 
Biedermann's  plan,  197 ;  as  a 
remedy  for  worst  offense,  216-224; 
difficulties  hi,  218,  219;  emphasis 
in,  220;  proportion  in,  220;  by 
pupils,  378;  of  facts  in  school 
histories,  354-356;  of  material  in 
examinations,  435. 

Sense  of  mastery,  319. 

Sense  of  proportion,  175. 

Shakespeare  as  historian,  35. 

Shepherd's  atlas,  259,  429. 

Smith's  True  Relation,  Narratives  of 
Early  Virginia,  extracts  from,  368, 
369. 

Social  groups,  178-201;  history,  184; 
changes,  185. 

Source  books,  219;   method,  360. 

Sources,  kinds,  2,  3;  traditions,  2; 
loss  of,  4,  5 ;  extant,  6 ;  require- 
ments for  criticism,  9;  inadequate, 
196;  primary,  126;  primary  as 
distinguished  from  secondary,  371. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  quoted,  70,  94,  95. 

Stephens,  Morse,  French  Revolution,  II, 
224- 


INDEX 


497 


Stevens,  Miss,  The  Question  as  a 
Measure  of  Efficiency  in  Instruction, 
quoted,  313,  314,  317. 

Synthesis,  6;  definition  of,  way  pre- 
pared for,  16;  aims  of,  16,  17. 

Systematic  correlation,  389,  391 ;  used 
in  each  subject,  392 ;  difficulties  of, 
393;  schemes  of,  393.  See  Geog- 
raphy. See  Literature.  See  Gov- 
ernment. 

Tacitus,  122. 

Tastes,  natural,  31;  acquired,  32.  See 
Interest. 

Textbooks,  148;  159;  in  history, 
269-286;  contrast  of  American  and 
European  use  of,  269,  287 ;  relation 
to  programs,  269;  classification  of, 
270;  purpose  of,  270,  271;  excerpts 
examined,  272—280,  interpretation 
of,  274;  concreteness-in,  277.  The 
most  important  element  in,  279; 
requirements  for,  270-285;  author 
of,  280,  281;  visual  aids  in,  283; 
pedagogical  aids,  284;  lack  in,  284; 
interest  in,  285 ;  use  of,  286- 
323;  type  of,  291,  303;  as  guide, 
293 ;  summary  type,  293 ;  cour s 
type,  294;  how  to  use,  294-299, 
302;  lesson  assigned  from,  304, 
305;  personal  initiative  in  use 
of,  305;  three  modes  in  use  of, 
306-311 ;  other  ways  in  use  of,  311 ; 
use  of  several,  312;  questions  on, 
313-318;  problems  in  use  of,  286, 
318-322 ;  teacher's  responsibility  in, 
321,  322;  supplemented,  323,  324; 
as  collateral  reading,  326,  327; 
thoroughness  in  one,  329;  influence 
on  range  of  collateral  reading,  240. 

Thierry,  402. 

Thomas,  quoted,  37,  38  n. 

Thucydides,  21;  22;  aim  of  history 
to  be  useful,  57 ;  94;  122;  429-431. 

Time  sense  in  children,  52. 


Tompkins,  quoted,  46. 

Traditions.    See  Sources. 

Twitchell.    See  Gordy  and  Twitchell 

Uncritical  history.    See  History. 

United  States,  printing  of  constitution 
of,  9 ;  history  as  taught  in,  62,  77, 
13°,  133  J  schools  differ  from  those  of 
Europe,  99,  100;  recognition  of  his- 
tory in  secondary  schools  in,  1 27, 1 28 ; 
history  in  elementary  schools,  130, 
131 ;  biographical  survey  in,  167. 

United  States'  program  at  first  not 
systematic,  130,  131 ;  of  various 
committees  (q.v.),  131-160;  prob- 
lem, 156;  conservatism,  158. 

Values,  55 ;  relation  to  aims,  65 ;  of 
historical  knowledge,  70, 71 ;  varying, 
72;  in  uncritical  history,  72;  in 
critical  history,  73 ;  educational,  of 
history,  71,  132. 

Verbal  descriptions,  inadequacy  of, 
43- 

Vidal-Lablache  maps,  249. 

Visualization,  essential  in  use  of  maps, 
245,  251.  See  Reality. 

Voltaire,  first  attempt  to  produce  a  real 
history  of  civilization,  180. 

Wallace,  Alfred  Russel,  quoted  (note), 

68. 

War,  1 86.    See  Military  history. 
Webster,  Noah,  127. 
Webster-Hayne  debate,  quoted,    222, 

434- 
Weise,  Christian,  Der  Kluge  Hofmeister, 

87. 

Wimpheling,  Jacob,  86;  96. 
Winckelmann,  180. 
Wister,  Owen,  Lady  Baltimore,  403. 
Written  work  in  recitation,  318;    in 

historical    construction,    378;     plan 

of,  379;   subjects  for,  380-383. 

Ziller,  method  of  correlation,  393. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


